Fighting Pandemic and Strengthening Health Care in East Africa

The EU-IGAD COVID-19 Response Programme, funded by the European Union with 60 million euros, provided significant support to seven countries in the IGAD region during the pandemic. The regional response was managed by UNOPS and implemented by IGAD, GIZ, IOM, TradeMark East Africa, UNICEF, and UNOPS. The program delivered 460 activities in 55 locations from June 2020 to December 2023, including delivering critical medical supplies and equipment, enhancing IGAD’s capacity to coordinate national responses, increasing access to health and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services, mitigating gender-based violence, improving community engagement, ensuring safe borders and supply chains for trade, and promoting digital solutions to monitor the pandemic. The program reached 6,822,433 people through various activities, exceeding its target by 52.7%.

The project evolved from an emergency response project in 2020 to include development activities as the pandemic subsided. The project required a multidisciplinary approach to account for the complexities of social and health thematic areas and their interrelationships with different sectors. The vital support of the program included the procurement and delivery of 8.6 million pieces of personal protective equipment, 208,977 COVID-19 test kits, 64,724 WASH and hygiene kits, 22 ambulances, 14 PCR machines, eight field vehicles, and seven mobile laboratory trucks.

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