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World Health Day 2020: UNRWA battling to contain the coronavirus pandemic

05 April 2020

On this World Health Day, as people around the globe battle the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of Palestine refugees, who live in overcrowded refugee camps and suffer from food and job insecurity, are disproportionately at risk. UNRWA is responsible for the healthcare needs of 3.5 million Palestine refugees living across Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In the midst of this pandemic, those needs have drastically increased.

UNRWA is doing its part to flatten the curve and has mobilized a number of prevention and control measures across its field of operations, including the issuing of hygiene products and protection gear to UNRWA staff, the distribution of educational pamphlets to refugees, the regular sterilization of camps and UNRWA facilities, and the support of students at home through our Education in Emergencies programme. UNRWA is committed to providing emergency relief and maintaining essential services like food assistance, education, and primary health care for the millions of Palestine refugees that depend on us, but in order to do so, we need your help.

UNRWA sanitation workers wearing protective health gear in the Aida Refugee Camp perform a sterilization of the camp’s streets and buildings. UNRWA has stepped up its sterilization efforts in the 19 refugee camps across the West Bank, performing regular cleanings of the camps streets and UNRWA facilities. Adam Baraqa’a, one of the sanitation workers and a resident of the Beit Jibreen camp, says that while the coronavirus pandemic has been a scary time, “I feel proud that I can do something to help protect my community, and I feel safe while doing it because of the protective gear that UNRWA has provided us with.” © 2020 UNRWA Photo by Yumna PatelUNRWA staff load medical supplies to be distributed around the West Bank, where 50,000 surgical masks have been distributed to staff in the 43 Health Centers across the territory, including gowns, and personal protective equipment (PPE) for food distribution teams. There is an urgent need for more medical supplies across the five fields of UNRWA operations in order to support strengthened hygiene and cleaning practices at the organization’s health centers. UNRWA estimates a need for US$ 3,600,000 in emergency funding in order to supply the adequate amount of PPE kits, masks, gloves, hygiene items, and cleaning and disinfection materials for its staff. © 2020 UNRWA Photo by Marwan Baghdadi. At the height of efforts to combat the new epidemic, UNRWA continues to provide services to beneficiaries wherever possible. As part of a joint project with the WFP, UNRWA began the first round of food distributions on March 25, 2020, to eight rural communities in eastern Bethlehem. Food distribution for isolated and remote locations in the West Bank is ongoing and is an essential service for people that cannot reach the cities due to movement restrictions imposed by local authorities. Before the distribution process kicked off, UNRWA equipped the distribution team with protective gear and masks and provided them with the necessary preparatory information to carry out their duty in a safe manner that guarantees their safety and that of the beneficiaries. © 2020 UNRWA Photo. UNRWA staff working on the packaging of food commodities to be distributed to Palestine refugees across the Gaza Strip, where a 13-year Israeli blockade and high-levels of unemployment have contributed to rising food insecurity in the territory, particularly amongst refugees, who make up more than 70 per cent of Gaza’s 2 million residents. UNRWA estimates that in 2020, one million food insecure Palestine refugees in Gaza will rely on UNRWA food assistance to meet their basic needs, a tenfold increase on the 100,000 that required such support in 2000. Food distribution is a vital service in Gaza and will continue during the COVID-19 emergency. Special measures have been introduced in order to reduce the risk of outbreak, including movement control and crowd management measures that will be implemented in all 10 UNRWA distribution centres in Gaza to ensure the safety of UNRWA front-line staff and beneficiaries. © 2020 UNRWA Photo by Khalil Adwan.UNRWA staff members organize medicines to be distributed to beneficiaries at the Rafah Preparatory Girls School, Gaza Strip. As part of the Agency’s COVID-19 response, the Rafah Preparatory Girls School is one of several schools that has been turned into a temporary health facility for beneficiaries with respiratory illnesses, in order to separate between them and other groups to minimize any possible chances of spreading the COVID-19 virus. Additionally, UNRWA staff have implemented awareness sessions among the health staff working in the clinics, as well as among beneficiaries, to inform them of the measures that should be taken to minimize the chances of infection. © 2020 UNRWA Photo by Khalil Adwan. The Damascus Training Centre is one of 25 UNRWA health facilities in Syria that is continuing to deliver health services to Palestine refugees in coordination with the Syrian Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO), despite the rapidly changing situation on the ground. As part of the awareness and preventive measures campaign, posters and awareness material, with WHO and Ministry of Health guidelines on infection prevention and control were distributed across UNRWA installations and in the camps, and leaflets continue to be handed out to refugees. SMS messages have also been sent out to beneficiaries requesting that no children, or non-essential family members attend clinics and distribution centres. In its health facilities in Syria, the Agency has established a triage system for refugee patients, ensuring those with respiratory symptoms are separated from other patients and received by a dedicated team of medical staff to help prevent possible spread of COVID-19. © 2020 UNRWA Photo. TaghAn UNRWA doctor demonstrates hand sanitizing techniques before she performs a check up on beneficiaries at the Damascus Training Centre in Syria. UNRWA has distributed 1-litre hand sanitizer liquid to all 3,500 staff and to volunteers in Syria and ensured it was available to beneficiaries visiting installations. The Agency has also provided personal protective equipment (PPE), medical masks, eye protectors, gowns and gloves to its health workers along with increased cleaning and disinfection of health centres to reduce the risk of transmission for both staff and patients.© 2020 UNRWA Photo by Taghrid Mohammed. 10-year-old Muaz al-Asadi, sanitizes his hands according to the health guidelines distributed by UNRWA to Palestine refugees at the Damascus Training Centre in Syria. Muaz is a student at UNRWA Haifa school in Damascus. However, as a result of schools being closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Muaz is currently studying at home using UNRWA self-learning material. Muaz says, “I wash my hands with soap and water and dry them thoroughly to prevent germs from spreading and to keep myself from getting sick. We should make handwashing a habit to avoid coronavirus. Handwashing minimizes the germs passed around our family and community.” Currently, all UNRWA schools and TVET centres, which have 541,000 students enrolled, are closed in all fields, in line with host country directives, as are two UNRWA teacher training institutions in the West Bank and Jordan. © 2020 UNRWA Photo by Taghrid Mohammed. An UNRWA staff member holds up a sign urging people to stay at home, in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus at the Ma'an Health Centre in Jordan. The practice of social-distancing has been advocated by global health officials as one of the best ways to prevent the spread of a contagious disease like COVID-19. While social-distancing can be difficult to practice in refugee camps that are typically overcrowded and house several families in each apartment, UNRWA has distributed educational pamphlets to Palestine refugees across its five fields of operations teaching beneficiaries how to practice safe social distancing techniques. © 2020 UNRWA PhotoUNRWA staff member wearing protective health gear hands medication through a window to a beneficiary at the Ma’anHealth Centre in Jordan. In order to combat the spread of the coronavirus and ensure the safety of its beneficiaries, UNRWA has implemented a series of measures, including providing medicines to cover a two-months prescription for patients with Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) to minimize their exposure to other patients.© 2020 UNRWA PhotoUNRWA staff wear personal protective equipment at an Agency clinic in Lebanon, which is home to more than 207,700* Palestine refugees who depend on UNRWA for their healthcare needs. The 27 UNRWA health centres continue to provide vital healthcare services to Palestine refugees in Lebanon. As part of the Agency’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, UNRWA introduced adjustments to its appointment system to separate the flow of visitors and segregate those who present any flu-like symptoms from other patients coming to the health centres for vaccination, chronic diseases, pregnant care or other services. © 2020 UNRWA Photo by Ahmad Al Wazir. World Health Day 2020: UNRWA battling to contain the coronavirus pandemic

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