Field Operations Update for September 2020
Starting this month, MedGlobal will be putting out monthly Field Operation Updates, highlighting our humanitarian and health programs around the world. MedGlobal supports health care in Bangladesh, Colombia, Ecuador, Gaza, Greece, Lebanon, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, and we have been contributing to the COVID-19 response in the United States. These monthly blog posts will provide a snapshot of some of our most notable program updates from the past month, though won’t cover the entirety of the health services and humanitarian work MedGlobal provides each month. For more frequent updates, make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Lebanon
On August 4, 2020 a massive explosion in Beirut’s port destroyed buildings and infrastructure, killing at least 191 people, injuring over 6,500, and leaving as many as 300,000 people without a home. Following the explosion, MedGlobal launched an emergency response in coordination with local partners. MedGlobal partnered with Banin Charity Organization to establish a medical tent that provides medical and mental health services, medications, hygiene kits, supplies, and referrals to people affected by the blast. The tent is located in the Zqaq El Blat area of Beirut and referral tents are located in Mar Mikhael and Karantina. MedGlobal also provided Rafik Hariri University Hospital, located in Beirut, with medical supplies and medications following the blast. For more information about MedGlobal’s emergency response to the Beirut blast, please watch this video.
In addition to the Beirut response, MedGlobal responded to the COVID-19 crisis alongside our partner Multi-Aid Programs (MAPs) by providing health care support to Syrian refugees, who are particularly vulnerable. MedGlobal supported two medical facilities who primarily serve Syrian refugee communities in Majdal Anjar, a village in Lebanon’s Beka’a governorate. We provided personal protective equipment (PPE), staff salaries, and medications to the facilities. Our recent work in Majdal Anjar has reached 6,000 patients.
Ecuador
In response to the COVID-19 outbreak in Guayaquil, Ecuador’s most populous city, MedGlobal began providing the MUEVE Foundation with supplies for their medical brigades for vulnerable populations in Guayaquil. This included medications for over 4,000 patients, 1,000 surgical masks, and 500 bottles of sanitizer. In partnership with Parametria, Santa Elena Governorate, and the Universidad Estatal Peninsula de Santa Elena, MedGlobal also helped conduct a survey to learn more about socio-demographics and perceptions and knowledge of COVID-19 within the province. In addition to our work combatting COVID-19, MedGlobal, in partnership with Parametria, donated food and hygiene kits to the MUEVE Foundation which will distribute them among 500 families of displaced Venezuelans in Guayaquil neighborhoods, reaching over 2,500 people.
Yemen
In August, MedGlobal scaled up its COVID-19 response in Yemen. MedGlobal distributed over 60,000 items of PPE and 61 oxygen cylinders, in addition to hospital beds, testing equipment, and other medical supplies to hospitals and isolation units throughout Yemen. This health care has served some of the most vulnerable communities in the Hadramout, Al Hudaydah, and Taiz governorates. Only half of all medical facilities in Yemen are fully functioning and 80% of the population relies on humanitarian assistance, so health support is more critical than ever.
Syria
As the COVID-19 crisis escalated in Syria, MedGlobal, alongside our partner Rahma Worldwide, has worked to provide oxygen concentrators, crucial for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, to health facilities and isolation units in Idlib, northwest Syria. Oxygen concentrators are crucial for providing the medical grade oxygen needed for treating COVID-19 patients. The impact of the pandemic is adding to an already dire humanitarian situation in Syria, nine years into an emergency conflict. Additionally, in August MedGlobal began to provide 200 oxygen generators and 60 CPAP machines, or non-invasive ventilators for people suffering from severe pneumonia or COVID-19 symptoms, to cities throughout Syria in partnership with local independent NGOs based on comprehensive needs assessments. These medical supplies will support upwards of 2,000 people, primarily those who are not financially able to access health care, over the next 6 months in Aleppo, Damascus, Homs, Latakia, Hama, Zabadani, Bludan, and Safita.
