Emergency Assistance to Coronavirus (COVID-19) – IOM 2020

April 2020 – In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic, the United Nations launched the Global Humanitarian Response Plan (GHRP) on March 25th, 2020. The GHRP seeks to respond to the direct public health and immediate humanitarian consequences of the pandemic. The GHRP’s three strategic priorities are: (1) containing the spread of the pandemic; (2) decreasing the deterioration of human assets and rights, social cohesion and livelihoods; and (3) protecting, assisting and advocating for refugees, internally displaced people, migrants and host communities particularly vulnerable to the pandemic. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has been monitoring the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on vulnerable populations, including internally displaced persons (IDPs), refugees, migrants, returnees, and host communities. As part of the GHRP, IOM is responding to new and additional needs, which have emerged as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak in humanitarian situations, including facilitating access to essential relief items and adequate living conditions for crisis-affected populations. With the support of GAC and other donors, IOM is providing assistance in multiple sectors, including health, camp coordination and camp management, displacement tracking, protection, shelter, emergency non-food items, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services. Project activities include: (1) providing life-saving primary health care and critical medical supplies; (2) providing WASH services in health-care facilities and points of entry; (3) enhancing national capacity for detection; (4) strengthening Community Event-Based Surveillance including by linking mobility information to surveillance data, particularly among border communities to identify high-risk transmission mobility corridors/areas; (5) ensuring the continuation of services, including primary health care and WASH facilities; (6) strengthening the access to social networks and livelihoods for migrants, IDPs, and other vulnerable populations; (7) providing assistance to stranded migrants; (8) strengthening existing protection mechanisms and social services to identify, support and refer people in need of care or protection; and (9) disseminating key messages on service delivery, health and hygiene to migrants, IDPs and other vulnerable populations.