Families in 26 municipalities across the country have now received aid from the Doha-based charity.

The Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has completed a COVID-19 aid project in the Republic of Kosovo to support underprivileged families amid the pandemic, the charity announced on Sunday.

The project aimed to support financially disadvantaged families by distributing essential food and hygiene supplies. Priority was given to widowed women, orphans, and elderly people who have no one to care for them.

In total, QRCS was able to extend a helping hand to 271 families in 26 municipalities across the Republic.

The Red Cross of Kosovo purchased the food and hygiene products through local suppliers while also conducting socio economic studies in order to select the families eligible for aid.

Agron Humolli, secretary-general of the Red Cross of Kosovo, oversaw the distribution of the food baskets and hygiene kits.

The Kosovo aid project is part of QRCS’s initiative to support fellow National Societies in 22 countries across six continents, to protect 320,000 people against the virus with a total budget of QR 2,236,827. 

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Kosovo, which only gained its independence in 2008 following years of conflict, has one of the highest poverty rates in eastern Europe. 

According to the Kosovo Agency of Statistics and the World Bank, 5.2% of the population live in extreme poverty and the unemployment rate currently stands at more than 30%.

Although the virus seems not to have affected Kosovo as much as other European countries like France, the UK and Italy, the economic effect has exacerbated the existing financial difficulties many families are suffering from.

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