COVID-19 Emergency Response:
Updates from the Field
#InThisTogether

We respond in times of crisis. We protect the vulnerable. We are using our expertise and resources to fight against COVID-19 and protect some of the world's most vulnerable families.

Discover the latest updates from the field in HALO's COVID-19 Emergency Response.

• Thursday 9th July: Afghanistan

Last month, our team in Afghanistan began an adapted programme of risk education combined with COVID-19 messaging to help prevent the spread of the virus. Traditional group risk education lessons have been replaced by door-to-door sessions with appropriate social distancing and PPE. Alongside teaching families how to stay safe from mines and explosives, our team has received training from WHO and the Risk Communication and Engagement Group in Kabul to deliver COVID-19 health education. They are also distributing COVID-19 leaflets and posters and have fitted loudspeakers to our vehicles to reach as many people as possible with this vital messaging.

The Afghan team aims to reach nearly 20,000 people each month and will cover all 34 provinces across the country.

• Monday 6th July: Ukraine

• Wednesday June 26th: Zimbabwe

Thanks to our supporters, Rumbidzayi Amana, known as Rumbi, is delivering medical supplies across rural Zimbabwe. Donations to our COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund in the last few weeks mean we could purchase an eight-tonne truck for Rumbi to make these vital deliveries.

• Wednesday June 26th: Zimbabwe

• Wednesday June 17th: Iraq

• Tuesday June 16th: In The Media

• Thursday June 11th: Cambodia

Thanks to support from the Sir Bobby Charlton Foundation we've been on the ground in Cambodia delivering food parcels and hygiene kits to vulnerable communities. 

Over the past six weeks we've delivered:

• 2,160 bars of soap
• 2,500 surgical face masks
• 300 litres hand sanitiser

• Thursday 11th June: In The Media

HALO Somaliland Programme Manager, Jane Strangways, joins the Scottish Parliament and International Development Alliance to discuss 'What COVID-19 means for sustainable development."

•  Monday 1st June: Somaliland

• Thursday 28th May: In the Media

• Thursday 28th May: Read the Report

COVID-19 AND THE NEED FOR GLOBAL LEADERSHIP: Read our brand new report on HALO's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and recommendations for the way ahead. 

• Tuesday 26th May: Prince Harry Writes to HALO

• Friday 22nd May: In the Media

• Friday 22nd May: Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe our team is on the road, driving over 25,000km across 8 provinces to deliver vital medical supplies to remote hospitals.

• Thursday 21st May: In the Media

Aid abroad will save lives at home: read James Cowan's opinion piece for the Conservative Friends of International Development.

• Tuesday 19th May: Zimbabwe

Last week, we deployed three PM/WRA purchased vehicles and their drivers to transport COVID-19 screening booths to hospitals in Harare and Bulawayo. These booths are vital as they allow the screening of people suspected of having COVID-19 without putting medics at risk. However, due to their size and weight, Zimbabwe’s National Pharmacy didn’t have vehicles capable of transporting them to the clinics where they were so desperately needed. With the backing of PM/WRA, drivers Thabani Sikwili and Onisimo Gatsi were able to step-in and make the deliveries.

• Friday 15th May: In the Media

• Thursday 14th May: Somaliland

• In Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, there are just two ambulances for a population of 1.2 million.
• There is only one treatment centre for COVID-19.
• Medics had no protective visors.
• Even the hospital bus to transport them to work was broken.

HALO has worked in Somaliland for over 20 years and is one of the few international charities operating on the ground during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are using our skills and resources to protect families who might otherwise be forgotten.

• Wednesday 13th May: In the Media

• Tuesday 12th May: Kosovo 

For some families, sheltering at home from COVID-19 is not an option. Realising there were vulnerable people at risk, our team in Kosovo has been supporting the charity Safe House and UNHCR Kosovo to ensure victims of domestic abuse and asylum seekers have a safe place to call home during the Coronavirus pandemic.

• Saturday 9th May: Afghanistan

Latif is a Planning Officer for HALO in Afghanistan, he has taken the COVID-19 hygiene training that he learned at work back to his home community—helping to share good practices to reduce the spread of the virus. Latif and over 2,000 of his Afghan colleagues are all making a difference in the fight against coronavirus. 

Each one of us can make a difference. Together we make change.

• Friday 8th May: Zimbabwe

• Thursday 7th May: Ukraine

In Ukraine, as well as continuing to keep people safe from landmines and explosives, our team is working with UNICEF Ukraine, the Ukrainian Red Cross and local charity, Proliska, to protect families, isolated on the frontline of the ongoing conflict, from COVID-19.

We have delivered over 4,400 hygiene messaging packs, visited churches and local prisons and distributed vital food and hygiene supplies to families who might otherwise be forgotten

• Tuesday 5th May: Nagorno Karabakh

Mountainous Nagorno Karabakh is one of the most isolated places in the world. It receives little international outside aid. For nearly three decades landmines have haunted Karabakh’s families. Now they face a terrifying new threat—the COVID-19 pandemic.

As one of the largest private employers in the territory, with 30 4x4 ambulances, only HALO can safely reach mountain villages and protect vulnerable families in the face of COVID-19.

• Sunday 3rd May: Iraq

• Thursday 30th May: Somaliland

Today our team in Somaliland made a special delivery to ATU Daryeel Hospital. It is the only treatment centre for COVID-19 in Somaliland’s capital but the doctors had no masks or visors to protect from infection. After taking expert medical advice, our Somaliland team have manufactured special PPE to keep the doctors safe—using parts from old demining visors and new lightweight flexible plastic.

• Wednesday 29th April: Zimbabwe

• Tuesday 28th April: Guinea Bissau

Today our HALO ambulance in Guinea Bissau was on the road supporting Médecins Sans Frontières as they work to carry out contact tracing. This involves assessing the condition of people thought to have COVID-19, taking samples for testing and deciding if people should remain quarantined at home or be taken to the hospital. (In these circumstances, an ambulance equipped to transport COVID-19 patients will be sent.)

• Monday 27th April: ITV Border News

• Sunday 26th April: Somaliland

Daryeel Hospital outside Hargeisa is the only treatment centre for COVID-19 patients in Somaliland but for the doctors and nurses working there, even getting to the hospital is a struggle. HALO's mechanics have repaired the staff bus so these vital workers can now reach the hospital for their shift. HALO is also putting plans in place to assist further with transporting both staff and patients.

• Saturday 25th April: Cambodia

• Friday 24th April: Myanmar

In Myanmar, the ongoing conflict has forced 1000s of families to flee their homes. They are living in crowded temporary camps where COVID-19 could spread unchecked. HALO is responding urgently to protect the vulnerable, supplying vital hygiene kits to camps across Northern Shan State.

• Thursday 23rd April: Tortoise Media

HALO CEO, James Cowan, joins MSP, Ruth Davidson and host James Harding to discuss Britain's leadership of the international response to COVID-19.

• Wednesday 22nd April: Cambodia

• Wednesday 22nd April: Tortoise Media

• Tuesday 21st April: Somaliland

Today our drivers in Somaliland trained in infection control with Médecins Sans Frontières so they are ready to deploy HALO's ambulance fleet to safely transfer COVID-19 patients to hospital.

• Sunday 19th April: Colombia

In Colombia, we are using our social media channels to reach communities with vital COVID-19 health messaging from the World Health Organisation.

• Saturday 18th April: Nagorno Karabakh

Nagorno Karabakh remains one of the most isolated regions in the world, receiving little assistance or outside aid. Haunted by the presence of landmines for over three decades, the population has no defence against a mass outbreak of COVID-19. HALO has worked in Karabakh for 20 years and we are mobilising our resources to protect vulnerable families from the spread of the pandemic.