ACTION ALERT: Global Washington Members responding to COVID crisis in India
An Americares India staff member educates community members in Mumbai about the importance of COVID-19 vaccination in March. Photo courtesy of Americares India
The health care system in India is near collapse due to COVID and it is in our best interest to respond. Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease told The Guardian relayed this message in the context of the U.S. government’s intention to send vaccines to India. “Because we’re all in this together. It’s an interconnected world. And there are responsibilities that countries have to each other, particularly if you’re a wealthy country and you’re dealing with countries that don’t have the resources or capabilities that you have.”
Here are the Global Washington members working in India either directly on COVID response or supporting communities to chart a path through this crisis. We encourage you to learn more about these organizations and support their efforts.
- Amazon: Mission Vayu: Amazon joins hands with various industry partners and NGOs to urgently bring in 10,000 oxygen concentrators and BiPAP machines into India. Medical equipment will be donated to hospitals and public institutions to augment their capacity to help patients infected with COVID-19 across multiple cities.
- Americares: Americares has made a $5 million commitment to supporting health workers and vulnerable communities immediately. We are leveraging our long-standing experience, supply and distribution networks in India, where we have had local operations for 15 years. Americares is currently supporting COVID-19 health facilities and protect health workers in the following ways: donating more than 600 oxygen concentrators to public hospitals across multiple states, exploring oxygen plant installation in six hospitals in the worst affected state of Maharashtra, and providing 1 million units of PPE including N95 and 3-ply masks as well as sanitizers to 10 dedicated COVID-19 hospitals in Mumbai and Delhi.
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- CARE: CARE India is mounting a comprehensive response and collaborating with development and corporate partners in fighting COVID-19 health crisis. Some of our key initiatives include helping frontline workers stay safe with PPE, distributing dry rations to feed the needy, raising awareness in our programme areas, contact tracing, providing technical support, inputs of the equipment required and others.
- ChildFund International: ChildFund India’s response to COVID Crisis. As India continues the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the isolation, lockdown, and suppressed economic activity have hurt families around the country, adversely impacting the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children and communities. We continue to work hard to prevent COVID-19 spread in communities through WASH intervention and support children and families who are desperately in need of lifesaving support including educational and livelihood support.
- GirlRising: Girl Rising continues to work with our partners to respond to the crisis. And we have heard from so many of you, the members of our community around the world, who want to help too. Our team in India has identified the following organizations as priorities in the response to the current crisis, and we thank you for your compassion and generosity: #TogetherForIndia, HelpNow, Khalsa Aid, Hemkunt Foundation, Project HOPE, Care India,and Mazdoor Pahal.
- Mercy Corps and Starbucks: Drawing on a 16-year partnership, Mercy Corps and The Starbucks Foundation teamed up to help prevent the spread of COVID‑19 and to keep communities as safe as possible through access to COVID‑19 health, sanitation and hygiene information.
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Microsoft: CEO Satya Nadella pledges support for crisis in India, “I am heartbroken by the current situation in India. I’m grateful the U.S. government is mobilizing to help. Microsoft will continue to use its voice, resources, and technology to aid relief efforts, and support the purchase of critical oxygen concentration devices.” Over the past month, Microsoft Philanthropies has been in close contact with nonprofit partners and government organizations leading the relief efforts in India to understand how [they] can best assist in the response. [They] believe a coordinated approach is the best way to help and [they] are working in partnership with humanitarian organizations and others in the private sector. Here are some examples of the steps they are taking.
- Opportunity International: Opportunity International, a longstanding global leader in providing microfinance services to lift people out of poverty, today announced it is redeploying its network resources across India to support COVID-19 relief efforts amongst its more than 7 million clients in the country. The 50-year-old nonprofit is marshalling its resources, from partners to people to physical offices, to deliver public health education, food supplies and direct medical support to millions in nine of the hardest hit states in India. Read more here.
- Oxfam America: Oxfam is responding to the crisis in India, distributing and installing medical equipment at health centers, distributing PPE to frontline health workers, and providing food and cash to meet people’s immediate needs. We are responding in 5 states across India, engaging with health facilities on the ground in those states. Given our permanent presence, we will also be able to meet the evolving needs of the people.
- PATH: PATH’s team in India is working side by side with state governments on the COVID-19 response—from procuring oxygen concentrators to supporting greater infrastructure for coronavirus testing. “No country has ever needed oxygen the way India needs it right now,” says Evan Spark-DePass, one of PATH’s market dynamics experts working on oxygen supply and demand.
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Restart Partners: Given the severity of the COVID-19 crisis in India, Restart Partners, Arthan Foundation (India), Facebook, and University of Washington Department of Communications have launched a targeted messaging campaign in India focused on: How to care for someone you who love who tests positive by treatment at home and reducing the number of people rushing to the hospitals. How to safely care for family members at home — reducing pressure on the medical system. General mask and social distancing campaign — an ongoing issue. And, messaging to help reduce vaccination hesitancy.
- Save the Children: Save the Children in India has been working closely with government ministries to respond to the crisis by generating awareness on prevention, control measures, and vaccinations and is also working on protecting children from exploitation, child labor, and child marriage. The organization plans to step up its health programs to provide life-saving medical support such as quarantine centers, ambulances, food, and psychosocial support for children.Save the Children is also advocating for public acceptance of COVID-19 safety measures. As well as leading awareness-raising campaigns to encourage 18-45-year-olds to take the vaccine when they’re eligible for vaccination starting on May 1.
- UNICEF USA: UNICEF is rushing urgently needed supplies and equipment to critical care centers. The situation in India is “beyond heartbreaking,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on April 26. WHO, UNICEF and other organizations are rushing staff and supplies to India to help fight the crushing tide of new cases. UNICEF is delivering critical oxygen concentrators and diagnostic testing systems, hygiene supplies and PPE kits to protect health care workers.
- Upaya Social Ventures: In response to the massive scale of this crisis, Upaya is sending emergency grants to our partner entrepreneurs in India so they can address the most critical needs of their jobholders and their businesses at this time. Now, more than ever, the most vulnerable households need the security that Upaya’s partner companies provide.
- WaterAid: WaterAid is continually monitoring the COVID-19 situation in other South Asian countries where we work including Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, and will widen the scope of our response as needed. WaterAid has worked in India for more than 35 years to get clean water where it’s needed most. We need your support to get water and toilets to critical points of care so that frontline staff can care for patients safely and those suffering are assured their most basic needs are met. To learn more and learn how to get involved, click here.
- World Concern: Seattle-based World Concern is responding through network of partners on the ground in India to help meet critical needs as India faces a catastrophic COVID-19 crisis. As cases rise in Nepal and Bangladesh, where World Concern is operational, responses are being planned in those areas as well. Read more here.
- World Vision: World Vision has already reached 4.8 million people in India with aid targeted to help the poorest cope with the economic impacts of earlier lockdowns and COVID-19 prevention efforts. But the agency is now warning that an explosion of COVID-19 risks spreading out from hotspots, like Delhi where hospitals have been overwhelmed and run short of oxygen, into poorer populous states where health services are weaker.