MSF teams are racing to respond to the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in over 70 countries, including opening projects in new countries as they become pandemic hotspots. Our COVID-19 response focuses on three main priorities: supporting authorities to provide care for COVID-19 patients; protecting people who are vulnerable and at risk; and keeping essential medical services running In South Africa we are focusing on HIV. TB & SGBV affected patients. DONATE NOW!
Being a new virus, COVID-19 has no acquired immunity; it is estimated today that approximately 15-20% of patients with COVID-19 require hospitalisation and 6% require intensive care for a duration of between 3 and 6 weeks. This can, of course, quickly saturate the healthcare system - this was the case in China at the beginning of the epidemic and is currently the case in Italy.
MSF seeks to establish a global coordination mechanism to ensure that there is a sufficient supply of COVID-19 medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics for people in low-resource settings and that all COVID-19 resources are allocated based on outbreak control needs; and guarantee access to repurposed drugs for patients suffering from diseases that are the original indication for use to ensure continuation of care; prevent patents and monopolies from limiting production and affordable access;
The COVID-19 Crisis Fund will ensure that: * we are able to provide health awareness messages to communities around the world to dispel myths about COVID-19 and promote healthy behaviour. * in all of our projects, our fieldworkers receive the necessary Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for their safety and for the safety of our patients. * our teams are equipped to support people who seek help at our projects because of COVID-19.
