Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) expands its efforts to help those affected by the pandemic in Podgorica.
QRCS has completed a project to aid those unable to afford COVID-19 hygiene necessities in Montenegro, where cases remain on the rise daily due to a weak healthcare system.
In an effort to reduce the impact of the virus on the wellbeing of the affected communities, the organisation provided the Red Cross of Montenegro with a $20,000 grant to secure protective supplies for those most in need.
Currently, the country is suffering from yet another wave of COVID-19, with the reported death toll rising to 725 people. The European country also reports 400+ new cases daily, with many needing hospitalisation. Given its small overall population, the current figures in Montenegro are among the worst in the region.
As part of Qatar’s aid campaign, the donation was used to buy and distribute basic relief items, such as hygiene kits, for the socially vulnerable people who are left with little to no protection.
Several people also lost their jobs due to the socioeconomic instability in the region, thus were unable to afford basic hygiene necessities.
People within the vulnerable categories were approached by the partner National Society through its local branches and base of volunteers. Consequently, 1,500 hygiene kits were distributed to people in need across the country.
Read also: ‘Tents to homes’: Qatar builds ‘Umran City’ to house displaced Syrians.
Special focus was put on people living in social care centres and prone older persons. In addition to the hygiene items and sanitisers, food parcels were distributed to some families. Around 4,800 people benefited from the campaign, minimising the chance of infection.
The project is part of the organisation’s initiative to back fellow National Red Cross/Crescent Societies in 22 countries across six continents, aimed at protecting 320,000 persons against the virus, with a total budget of QR 2,236,827, QRCS said in a statement.
Those countries include Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Tajikistan, Mongolia, Laos, Vanuatu, Ethiopia, Chad, Senegal, Mauritania, Ivory Coast, Mali, Sierra Leone, Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Venezuela, El Salvador, Peru, and Panama.
The project enhances the countries’ healthcare protection by providing supplies for health facilities, provision of medicines and medical supplies, protection for medical professionals and volunteers, provision of food and shelter for families worst affected by loss of income, and provision of protective supplies (masks, gloves, sanitisers, etc.).
QRCS has been at the forefront of other humanitarian aid work, including monitoring vaccination campaigns in Gaziantep, on the Turkey-Syria border, as well as campaigns inside the war-ravaged country for measles and rubella.
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