GPM teams up with IsraAID for emergency COVID-19 response in India

IsraAID, an international non-governmental humanitarian aid organization based in Israel, has joined GPM to roll out an urgent emergency response program to stop the spread of COVID-19. As India is currently in the throes of a devastating surge of COVID-19 cases, including severe spikes in critical cases and fatalities, we are on the ground responding to and mitigating critical needs in the areas we operate, particularly within the hard-hit indigenous rural communities. Anil Jadhav, one of our village supervisors, reports that, “Every second house in the villages has someone suffering with COVID-19." 

Our COVID-19 emergency response plan is innovative, far-reaching, and multi-pronged in order to address the cross-cutting challenges in halting the spread of COVID-19, and as always will continue to focus on providing the necessary care to low income families living in hard to reach locations. 

Together with our partners at IsraAID, we are working to extend support and strengthen resilience of communities within remote villages, and increase capacity of the local government health care infrastructure. We are coordinating with the local health authorities, including the District Health Office (DHO) to ensure rural hospitals and COVID-19 Care Centers have the medical equipment, supplies, and medical professionals needed to serve a rural population of nearly 4.2 million people. Currently there is about 1 doctor to every 50-100 patients in the areas we are working. 

Together in partnership with community leaders we are extending our community outreach work, providing important COVID-19 information to communities, and emergency groceries and health and hygiene kits to those in in quarantine. We will also be setting up medical camps within the villages for both testing, and more importantly increasing access to vaccinations. The community outreach program will reach an estimated 70,000 people. To support this urgent life-saving work in India, please donate here: https://rootfunding.com/campaigns/gpm_corona_virus_campaign