COVID-19 is thought to have pushed between 88 and 115 million people into extreme poverty during 2020, according to the World Bank. This is an unprecedented rise - the first in over 20 years - and it is a trend that will not reverse any time soon.
Image: Our humanitarian response project for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh operates health posts in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar
There are already huge challenges facing the countries where we work, due to a combination of weak healthcare systems, poor hygiene and sanitation facilities, densely populated communities, and an absence of welfare support systems.
Taking the lessons we learnt from our rapid Ebola response in Guinea in 2015, we immediately pivoted our activities to respond to the pandemic across our country programmes.
Highlights
Across our country programmes, we produced and distributed 217,928 cloth face masks.
In The Gambia, we rehabilitated and treated broken wells in 80 communities across the country - an activity that has made clean water available to the communities and enabled regular handwashing and improved hygiene (image credit: Jason Florio).
In Malawi, we reached nearly 5 million people with vital messages about COVID prevention (e.g. through radio, SMS and megaphones).
We collaborated with Nigerian musician Sunny Neji to produce a new song, ‘Together we will beat it’, to reach young people and remote communities in Nigeria with vital messages about preventing the spread of COVID-19. The song had over 370,000 views on social media.
Find out more
Read more stories about our emergency COVID response work:
