logo075x
  • ABOUT US
    • THE PATRIP APPROACH
    • HOW WE WORK
    • OUR PRINCIPLES
    • STRUCTURE
    • TEAM
  • LOCATIONS
  • PROJECTS
  • PARTNERS
    • IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS
    • DONORS
    • WHY DONORS SUPPORT US
  • DOCUMENTS
    • REPORTS
    • MANUALS
    • TEMPLATES
    • FACTSHEETS
  • CAREERS
  • Français
logo075x
logo075x
  • ABOUT US
    • THE PATRIP APPROACH
    • HOW WE WORK
    • OUR PRINCIPLES
    • STRUCTURE
    • TEAM
  • LOCATIONS
  • PROJECTS
  • PARTNERS
    • IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS
    • DONORS
    • WHY DONORS SUPPORT US
  • DOCUMENTS
    • REPORTS
    • MANUALS
    • TEMPLATES
    • FACTSHEETS
  • CAREERS
  • Français

PATRIP health infrastructure helps fight COVID-19

April 28, 2020
-
Health, News
-
By Magdalena Males

The Comprehensive Health Centre Islam Qala, renovated and expanded by PATRIP’s partner World Vision in 2018, has become an asset in fighting the COVID-19 outbreak at the Iran-Afghanistan border.

 

In 2017-2018, our partner World Vision significantly enhanced the capacity of the Comprehensive Health Centre Islam Qala at the Iran-Afghanistan border. The small town Islam Qala links Herat City in Afghanistan to Mashhad in Iran, making it a focal point for Afghan returnees and deportees from Iran. The PATRIP-supported project, funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, particularly focused on improving the situation of the returnees, many of which are in urgent need of medical attention due to their arduous journey and general lack of access to services. World Vision expanded the Health Centre by adding – among other things – emergency and delivery rooms, a laboratory, facilities for staff and modernised waiting areas, thereby equipping the facility to efficiently tend to more patients. At that time, nobody could have anticipated the challenges that the COVID-19 outbreak would pose two years later.

 
Afghan returnees are being screened at the Comprehensive Health Centre Islam Qala on their route from Iran © World Vision
 

The outbreak of the new Coronavirus significantly affects the movement between countries, making returnees and migrants in Afghanistan even more vulnerable. Given that an average of 9,600 people crosses the border between Iran to Afghanistan on a daily basis, the risk of transmitting the disease from COVID-19 hotspot Iran into Afghanistan remains high. So far, a majority of COVID-19 cases have been reported in Herat province. Now more than ever, the most vulnerable parts of the population require assistance and information about how to protect themselves and others from the viral disease.

 
In April 2020, World Vision visited the Health Centre and spoke to local staff such as health worker Shakila Hossaini © World Vision
 

We are therefore very happy to observe how the Health Centre is currently being used by Afghan authorities as one of the main health facilities to inform the population passing through the facility about the risks of COVID-19 and appropriate hygenic behaviour, while also screening and referring suspected cases to the COVID-19 Isolation hospital in nearby Herat. The World Vision team visited the Health Centre Islam Qala in April 2020 and spoke to its staff and management, in order to find out in what way the upgrade of 2018 is being used in the present health crisis.

 
Dr Asif Kabir is the Deputy Director for the Herat Department of Public Health (DoPH), in charge of the facility. © World Vision
 

Dr Asif Kabir, deputy director of the Herat Department of Public Health (DoPH), which is in charge of the facility, pointed out that the trainings the Health Centre staff received in the context of World Vision’s project have proven helpful. “They have been effective in identifying the positive and suspicious COVID-19 cases in the area”, he told World Vision. During the project in 2018, 17 members of the Health Centre’s staff, including nurses, midwifes, community mobilisers and vaccinators, received training in – among other things – the prevention of communicable diseases. Footage provided from the visit shows the medical staff wearing full protective gear, operating with temperature screening devices, and enforcing the necessary distance between returnees in the facility’s waiting hall. “If this centre and its staff were in the previous state before the reconstruction, we would not have been able to do that”, Shakial Hossaini, who is a health worker at the Centre, told the team. “We didn’t have a suitable place for these activities.”

 
A boy washes his hands inside the renovated courtyard of the border health facility. © World Vision
 

The PATRIP Foundation remains committed to improve the access to vital services and facilities for vulnerable communities living in remote areas by collaborating with NGO partners as well as local state authorities.

 
 
 

 

Share this:

  • Tweet
PREVIOUS POST
Negotiating a way forward: FSD adapts cross-border activities to continue despite lockdown
NEXT POST
Electricity for 24 remote villages

Related Posts

Related posts that you should not miss.

Around 200 participants come together in hybrid conference to shape PATRIP’s future

July 13, 2022
-
News
The hybrid conference titled “10 Years of PATRIP Foundation - Networks for Peaceful Regions” was hosted by the PATRIP Foundation in Berlin on June 30th, 2022. Close to…
Read More →
By Magdalena Males
4 Min Read

Health facilities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Insights from SRSP’s COVID-19 response

August 2, 2021
-
COVID-19, Health, News, Pakistan
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit District Chitral, people from everywhere rushed to the District Headquarters Hospital Chitral (DHQ), due to the lack of equipment in Rural Health Centers…
Read More →
By Nastaran Safi
2 Min Read

Coordinating COVID-19 responses in Pakistan: BRSP and SRSP support local authorities

August 18, 2020
-
COVID-19, News, Pakistan
With the onset of the pandemic, the PATRIP Foundation together with its partners has quickly launched emergency support for vulnerable communities affected by COVID-19. Due to flexible pooling…
Read More →
By Magdalena Males
7 Min Read

Contact
PATRIP Foundation
Myliusstraße 9
Frankfurt am Main
Germany

info@patrip.org

Imprint / mentions légales

 

 

The PATRIP Foundation
as an independent institution is an effective vehicle for pooling resources to Afghanistan and its neighbouring countries as well as to the West African region.

 

Formulaire de Réclamation / Grievance Form

Follow Us / Suivez-nous:
copyright 2020
Website Design and Development  Jason and Company
PATRIP health infrastructure helps fight COVID-19 - PATRIP Foundation

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

PATRIP Foundation
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.