Source: AP News
As India aimed to recover from the impact of the first wave of COVID-19 infections in 2020, the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic came as a severe blow. In 2021, India’s official death toll surpassed 200,000, although the actual numbers were suspected to be much higher. The healthcare system was overwhelmed and hospitals were struggling to provide beds, oxygen, and essential medicines to patients. Amidst the crisis, India launched a mass vaccination drive but faced challenges including shortages and other logistical hurdles. Widely-enforced lockdowns harmed the mobility of domestic workers and others in the informal sector, who lost their livelihoods and their savings.
Response of ActionAid Association (AAA)
With 512 staff members across 21 States and 2 Union Territories and more than 48,144 volunteers, ActionAid Association responded to the COVID-19 crisis in 2021 in 225 Districts in 786 Blocks. Our direct interventions impacted the lives of 28,33,192 people across India. Our teams focused on reaching out to the most marginalized groups—which include migrant laborers, daily wage earners, homeless individuals, families from NT/DNT communities, transgender individuals, sex workers, Devadasis, Tamasha artists, domestic workers, the elderly and disabled, and single/widowed women, among others—and providing them with relief kits, medicines and cash to purchase necessities.
Our teams spread awareness of the benefits of vaccination and helped vulnerable communities register to be vaccinated on the COWIN App. We also supported health workers who tested for COVID-19 in communities and sanitized areas. To encourage people to take precautions, ActionAid Association (along with volunteers and local youth and female groups) ran mobile awareness vans. We also helped set up 23 COVID-19 care centers throughout Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Odisha, providing more than 435 health institutions with over 6500 oxygen concentrators. Through these centers, ActionAid Association provided primary care, medicines, testing facilities, counseling services, and food to communities.
We reached out to remote districts in collaboration with public health services and volunteers to improve access to care. Two of these are pediatric care facilities for children, located in Patna, Bihar and in Jharkhand. In total, ActionAid Association has ensured the vaccination of 1,65,757 persons from marginalized communities. We have been able to support the 951 homeless, 4,104 individuals from NT/DNT communities, 15,713 Dalits, 13,008 tribal people, 6,226 Muslims, 2,064 domestic workers, 4,297 construction workers, 2,001 migrants, and 516 transgender people through our efforts.
In addition, ActionAid Association ran 14 Child Support Centres (CSCs) to provide medical supplies, surgical masks, food, and other essentials to vulnerable children. We also supported the pediatric ward in the Patna Hospital with the required supplies to address the increasing number of cases of COVID-19 among children. Our trained volunteers and Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) continuously engage with sponsored and non-sponsored children in our project areas so that they can continue their education and learning.
