COVAX vaccine shipments are beginning to reach countries in need, WHO celebrated International Women’s Day and telemedicine is showing promise for chronic conditions during COVID-19. This week we highlight ongoing activities in countries around the world with WHO’s support thanks to the vital funding from its many donors:
COVAX and WHO push for equitable vaccine access and begin vaccine rollout in countries
Published by PAHO/WHO on 1 March 2021.
WHO regional and country offices have begun reporting on the historic COVID-19 vaccine distribution facilitated by COVAX, WHO, The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness
Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), and UNICEF.
Ghana recently became the first country to receive vaccine doses shipped by the COVAX facility. Other WHO country offices sharing news of their vaccine rollouts include Côte d’Ivoire, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Colombia, El Salvador, Fiji, Guatemala, Honduras, Maldives, Indonesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Peru, Serbia, and Sri Lanka. Many other countries are soon to follow.
While the COVAX facility’s activities represent a milestone, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently stated that the volume of doses being distributed through COVAX is still relatively small. WHO and our COVAX continue to help
all countries end the pandemic. They are meeting with governments and industry to find ways to increase vaccine production to make sure that no country is left behind.
WHO boosts cold chain system and laboratories in Maldives for COVID-19 vaccine rollout and beyond
Published by the WHO Maldives country office on 25 February 2021. A nurse checking on COVID-19 vaccines in a freezer.
As COVID-19 vaccines are rolling out across the world, developing countries face challenges in accessing vaccines but also in building and maintaining cold chain facilities to store and deliver some types of the new vaccines.
To help overcome this challenge in the Maldives, WHO recently handed over cold chain and laboratory supplies to the Ministry of Health to strengthen the island nation’s pandemic response and to support a more resilient health system in the future.
The donation will help build a modern cold chain system for COVID-19 and other vaccines, strengthen quality of care, and sustain quality testing for COVID-19, measles, rubella and Influenza. The cold chain equipment will support vaccine management for the next 10 years, WHO experts say. The country spends 10% of GDP on health – the highest allocation in the WHO South-east Asia region. In addition, government-funded comprehensive health insurance is available for every Maldivian, contributing to its progress towards Universal Health Coverage and equity for all.
Women in Albania, Chad, India and Niger at the forefront: “We will keep fighting until this virus is defeated”
On International Women’s Day, 8 March, WHO/Europe recognized the huge contribution made by female health workers to the COVID-19 response. As Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, said in a recent statement, “The face of that frontline health worker we so often talk about is mostly the face of a woman.”
One of these frontline health workers is Ms Hëna Dumi, head of the nursing care sector of an Albanian COVID-19 designated hospital.
Regardless of her taxing workload, stress and anxiety, Ms Dumi is not ready to give up. To her, the difficulties she has faced during the pandemic pale in comparison to the joy she feels when a life is saved. This gives her the strength to fight until the virus is defeated. “We have to get this done. We need to do our best and put in some additional effort to bring life back to normal again,” she emphasizes.
Read more about Ms Dumi (Story published on 9 March by WHO/EURO).
More stories celebrating women in health from WHO in regions and countries
- India: WHO's all women team in Arunachal Pradesh brave rough terrain and poor connectivity to provide healthcare in a pandemic
- WHO Americas Regional Director calls for more women in leadership of the fight against COVID-19
- "The pandemic has highlighted the extreme resilience of Chadian women"
- Niger: First Lady Dr Lalla Malika Issoufou speaks out on the impact of COVID-19 on women
WHO boosts digital health in Georgia amid the COVID-19 pandemic
As the COVID-19 pandemic hit in Georgia, hospitals filled up and outpatients were struggling to get timely expert advice .
Georgia native Dr Mrelashvili decided to return to his home country to try to address the problem and replicate some of the teleworking solutions that he had seen successfully employed in the United States.
He created virtual clinics that could accommodate as many patients as necessary without absorbing hours of
doctors’ time. The initiative, named Project Atlas, links up one senior doctor, voluntary medical specialists, two junior doctors, medical students and patients in a series of virtual, cloud-based chat rooms.
This is just one example of WHO’s European Programme of Work 2020–2025 put into action through one of its flagship initiatives, Empowerment through Digital Health.
Story published by WHO/EURO on 24 February 2021.
WHO supports India to go digital to maintain essential health services during COVID-19
Published by WHO India on 23 February 2021.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, millions of people with hypertension and other diseases have been unable to access treatment.
One solution came in the form of an innovative intervention from the India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI), which is a multi-partner initiative of the Government of India’s Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, ICMR, WHO Country Office for India, and Resolve to Save Lives.
Under the initiative, a team of IHCI cardiovascular health officers and senior treatment supervisors from WHO-India is supporting 13 state governments by using digital apps like ‘Simple’. Through the app, WHO and its partners in India have increased the use of telemedicine
so patients and healthcare workers can carry out consultations and get prescriptions via phone, video or text message.
The European Union joins forces with WHO to support eight countries in South-East Asia to suppress COVID-19
Published by WHO WPRO on 15 March 2021.
The project in the Philippines is being funded as part of a € 20.5 million programme between the EU and WHO covering eight priority countries in South-East Asia: Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. The partnership aims to protect people’s health and access to health services, especially among the most vulnerable by strengthening health systems. Another aim is to increase coordination and synergies between WHO and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on emergency response and preparedness.
The new EU - WHO partnership in Indonesia supports the national COVID-19 response and strengthen the health system. The EU is providing EUR 2.66 million for the WHO in Indonesia, to support the Ministry of Health to suppress community transmission and maintain essential health services to reduce preventable diseases and deaths.
In the Philippines , EU has provided €2.3 million to protect Filipinos from COVID-19. The funding aims at strengthening surveillance, risk assessment and contact tracing activities, enhancing the functions of national laboratories, improving case management, infection, prevention and control, utilizing risk communications and community engagement approaches, implementing specific public health measures for travel and points of entry and scaling up readiness for COVID-19 vaccines.
***
Read more about WHO’s response to COVID-19 across the world.
Without the support of donors and partners, WHO would not be able to reach these countries in need and help them make it through the COVID-19 pandemic.
WHO thanks all governments, organizations and individuals contributing to the COVID-19 response around the world, and in particular those who have provided fully flexible contributions, to ensure a comprehensive fight against the disease.
Member States and observers:
Afghanistan, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belize, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, European Commission, Finland, France, Gabon, Germany, Guinea-Bissau, Holy See, Iceland, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Ireland, Guinea, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malta, Mauritania, Mozambique, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America, Viet Nam, Yemen.
Other Partners:
African Development Bank Group, Africa Reinsurance Foundation, Asian Development Bank, Alwaleed Philanthropies, Ancash, Banco Centroamericano de Integracion Economica (BCIE), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, CAF- Development Bank of Latin America, Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), , Clinton Health Access Initiative, COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, East African Community, , Fond d’Assistance Economique et Sociale (FAES), Fondo Mixto, Fundación Yamuni Tabush, Gavi Alliance, Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, International Organization for Migration (IOM) Islamic Development Bank, King Baudouin Foundation, King Salman Humanitarian Aid & Relief Center (KSrelief Saudi Arabia), National Philanthropic Trust, Novartis, OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), Pandemic Tech, Shell Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Sandoz AG, Sony, Southern African Development Community, Standard Chartered Bank, Supply Chain Fund, Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, Tetra Pak Export FZE, UNDP Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF), , United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Federal Credit Union (UNFCU), United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Vital Strategies, World Bank, World Food Programme.
Read more about donors and partners contributing to the COVID-19 response