(DELHI): As COVID-19 cases continue to surge in India, the country, which is in the grip of a public health emergency, is in desperate need of aid. Plan International has launched a fundraising appeal to help address this humanitarian crisis.
The child rights and humanitarian organisation will be offering assistance in the following areas:
- Food aid. Plan International is fundraising to support 100,000 poor and vulnerable families in rural and urban communities by supplying food baskets.
- Protection for COVID-19 warriors. The organisation aims to support 100,000 doctors, nurses, frontline health workers, police personnel, sanitation and other workers with personal protective equipment (PPE) to enable them to continue delivering services to COVID-19 patients.
- Mass awareness campaign. Plan International will support one million adolescent girls, boys and young women in 1,800 villages to raise awareness of how to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including tackling stigma and myths surrounding vaccinations.
- Oxygen concentrators for COVID-19 patients. The organisation will supply 500 COVID care and treatment centres in district headquarters and smaller towns with high flow oxygen concentrator machines to enable them to support COVID patients who are in need of supplemental oxygen.
- Supporting 10,000 COVID-19 patients from poor and vulnerable communities in 20 districts by setting up temporary COVID-19 care centres where they can access care, treatment and nutrition.
Mohammed Asif, Plan International India’s Executive Director, said: “The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India has created an unprecedented public health crisis. Our health system is being overwhelmed by an unending stream of COVID-19 patients seeking medical assistance and supplemental oxygen. We must all come together and act now to alleviate the sufferings of large numbers of people affected by COVID”.
“Our Project #HelpIndiaHealwill seeks to offer much needed humanitarian assistance to the poor and vulnerable families. During the pandemic, girls and children are some of the worst affected. They are at risk not only from the health emergency due to the virus, but also from its other impacts on children’s education, risk of early marriages, domestic violence, child labour and loss of livelihoods. We are planning to support at least one million poor and vulnerable families in both urban and rural areas across India to mitigate the impact of COVID on their lives.”