UK charities launch appeal to help the most unstable states to fight COVID-19
Earlier today, British charities launched an appeal to help protect millions of people at heightened risk of the current COVID-19 pandemic in the world’s most fragile states by providing protective equipment for frontline health workers.
Aid agencies warned that Coronavirus could cause a humanitarian disaster as it hits refugee and displacement camps and war-torn countries such as Syria, Somalia and Yemen.
People living in crowded camps cannot socially distance and have limited access to handwashing facilities or basic medical supplies if they fall sick with the virus.
Malnutrition and chronic ill-health mean the death rate from the virus is also likely to be higher in camps than elsewhere, said Saleh Saeed, chief executive of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), which launched the appeal.
The DEC is an alliance of 14 leading British aid agencies including ActionAid, Oxfam, Save the Children, Christian Aid and Islamic Relief.
The reports claimed that about 570,000 people have died from coronavirus worldwide, with the highest death tolls so far being in the United States, Brazil and Britain.
But Saeed explained that the official death tolls in fragile states were inaccurate due to lack of tests and negative diagnostic test results.
“Look at Yemen - the official death toll is ridiculously 364, yet every day we’re seeing the graveyards full and the cemetery workers saying ‘we’re struggling to cope’.”
Around 24 million people have been displaced from their homes in at least the six countries at the centre of the appeal – namely, Yemen, Syria, Somalia, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Afghanistan.
The appeal will also focus on Rohingya refugees living in the world’s biggest refugee camp in Bangladesh, home to 850,000 people, and according to the United Nations "the highest [place at] risk of infection in the world".
The money raised will provide people with clean water and soap, and food to prevent malnutrition, particularly among children.
Saeed added that people were having to choose between staying at home and starving with their children or going out to work or find food, putting themselves at risk of catching the deadly virus and passing it on to others.
“These are the stark choices people are having to make,” he added. “In the UK we can stay indoors, lock ourselves in, and everything is provided. That’s not a luxury these communities have.”
The proceeds of the appeal will also be used to provide frontline medical staff and aid workers with equipment and supplies to protect themselves and help care for the sick.
“We’ve heard stories in places like Aden in Yemen where doctors had to shut hospitals and clinics because they didn’t have the necessary protective equipment,” Saeed admitted.
“Doctors have died because they’ve taken the risks without the equipment.”
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