Unlike previous epidemics, the arrival of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in the countries we work with in Africa, Latin America, and Asia was a foreshadowing. And although some countries with experience dealing with Ebola, such as Liberia and Sierra Leone, quickly implemented preventive measures, in many other countries, infections continue to spread unchecked, such as in Ghana and Colombia. This represents "a challenging situation for all healthcare institutions," as Valentine Bruku, Financial Director of the Hospitaller Order's Province of Saint Augustine of Africa, explained to Juan Ciudad ONGD. Photo above: Care at the SJD Hospital in Asafod (Ghana).
Staff at St. John of God Hospital in Koforidua during training in SARS-CoV-2 protocols (Ghana).
However, we have the opportunity to learn from our mistakes, and that's why Juan Ciudad NGO continues to defend the right to health and the need to maintain international cooperation for development. COVID-19 must be added to the already complex situation facing malaria, dengue, AIDS, polio, and tuberculosis. And we mustn't forget the social and economic crisis that is emerging in the wake of the coronavirus.
On January 31, 2019, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission in China reported a cluster of pneumonia cases in the city. It would later be revealed that the virus was a novel coronavirus, which officially spread outside the country on January 13, 2020, when the first case was confirmed in Thailand.
In Spain, we detected it two weeks later, on January 31, with a tourist testing positive for COVID-19 in La Gomera. With cases surging in numerous countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus epidemic a public health emergency of international concern on January 30. However, nothing could stop the tsunami that swept across the planet in the following months, and it still has 188 affected countries on edge, with more than 20 million confirmed cases and 737,022 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University with data from August 11, 2020.
Luis Vilca, project coordinator at the Cristo de las Américas Hospital in Sucre, Bolivia, during the distribution of food to Community Health Promoters at seven Bolivian health centers in the Department of Chuquisaca.
In sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in late February, almost a month after they were detected in Spain, prompting the WHO to officially declare it a pandemic on March 11.
From then on, most of the lockdown measures and states of alarm began to be imposed in parts of Europe and other continents, as if a domino had suddenly fallen and begun to push the rest. But meanwhile, in the first quarter of 2020, the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus had been circulating invisibly, being mistaken for influenza in Spain, just as the first cases of Ebola in West Africa in 2014 were mistaken for malaria.
Adapting to an unknown reality
In our country, the centers of the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God have worked hard to adapt to the new situation and continue caring for sick and vulnerable people, treating more than 500 COVID-19 patients in Spain.
At Juan Ciudad NGO, we also reacted quickly, making ourselves available to our partners, who were anxiously awaiting the arrival of the coronavirus, which was already wreaking havoc in some healthcare centers in northern Italy and the Community of Madrid.
Our experience with previous health crises, such as the 2013-2016 Ebola epidemic, provided us with some valuable lessons, so we knew that acting quickly makes a huge difference, as does acting in coordination with health authorities and other local and international stakeholders.
Care of a patient with a disability at the St. John of God Rehabilitation Centre in Monze, Zambia.
This enabled healthcare personnel at the San Juan de Dios hospitals and clinics in Africa to train in protection protocols and manage suspected COVID-19 cases, as well as to conduct an initial stockpile of protective materials and supplies to prevent the spread of the coronavirus to the facilities.
"Thanks to the emergency funds we were able to raise and begin sending at the end of March of this year, we have helped prevent the collapse and subsequent closure of the Hospitaller Order's social and healthcare services in countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Cameroon," explains Gonzalo Sales, director of Juan Ciudad NGO.
Aid has also been sent to Latin America, "which has also been used to purchase biosecurity materials and food for workers and families without resources," Sales continues, "who have had a very difficult time during the lockdown, as the health emergency has been compounded by job losses and other negative economic consequences."
On the ground
In Spain, the NGO team worked remotely during the lockdown, intensifying calls and video conferences with all the hospitals and centers with which it collaborates in 16 countries. Among the first actions were the sending of specific recommendations to all centers with active projects, to adapt them to the pandemic scenario, with the priority of maintaining jobs and protecting workers and project beneficiaries.
This led to drastic measures in some places, such as the temporary cessation of community health activities promoted by the San Juan de Dios Clinic in Iquitos (Peru) and the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Lunsar (Sierra Leone). However, on other occasions it allowed for innovation, such as at the San Benito Center in Soacha (Colombia), where in-person job training workshops for female heads of household were also suspended. However, an interesting psychosocial study was conducted via telephone during the lockdown. This has revealed key data for designing future interventions. The number of women beneficiaries of the project who are currently unemployed is 941.
Furthermore, on March 24, the COVID-19 Africa Crisis Committee of the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God was created to coordinate the institution's response to the needs of its centers in countries with limited resources. And in Latin America, the NGO joined the existing Saint John of God network called the Committee for Cooperation and Solidarity (COMCOSOL).
The archives of St. Joseph's Catholic Hospital in Monrovia hold the data of thousands of patients. The leading causes of death are malaria, tuberculosis, respiratory infections, and AIDS, while complications during pregnancy and childbirth are also a factor for women.
In total, the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God has sent more than half a million euros in funds to cover the needs of the epidemic in 27 centers located in disadvantaged regions. These funds come from aid raised through Juan Ciudad ONGD and other Saint John of God entities in Italy, the Netherlands, and Ireland, as well as the General Curia in Rome.
What awaits usâŠ
The future is uncertain regarding the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic, although the scientific community believes that "To defeat the virus, a set of actions similar to those that stopped historical epidemics may be necessary: social control measures, medications, and a vaccine," states Lydia Denworth in issue 525 of InvestigaciĂłn y Ciencia, the Spanish edition of Scientific American.
So, everything indicates that in this long-distance race, we cannot let our guard down in the coming months. Furthermore, the response to the pandemic must be global and coordinated among regions with the highest, medium, and lowest development indices. Therefore, cooperation will continue to be a key element, and at Juan Ciudad NGO, we continue working to ensure that interventions with vulnerable groups, such as those with illnesses and those at risk of exclusion, continue.
In Europe, we are currently entering the so-called "new normal," with outbreaks that could reverse the gains made. In Africa, Latin America, and Asia, many countries are experiencing a surge in infections, and we need to continue supporting them.
Juan Ciudad NGO has launched the "STOP COVID-19" campaign to continue raising funds and maintaining active cooperation projects and coronavirus relief efforts, ensuring there are no setbacks in the defense of the right to health, endorsed by Sustainable Development Goal 3.
A clear example is the intervention promoted by the Cristo de las Américas Hospital in Sucre (Bolivia) since 2018 in the Department of Chuquisaca, where it collaborates with seven government health centers to train Health Promoters in 51 rural communities. This project strengthens the health network, benefiting thousands of people each year. These Health Promoters can now monitor suspected cases of COVID-19 in that region.
West Point in Monrovia, Liberia, is one of the city's most impoverished neighborhoods, lacking adequate sanitation facilities, making it difficult to implement basic COVID-19 prevention measures such as frequent handwashing with soap and water.
Initiatives like this one will be able to sustain and continue with the money raised through the Stop COVID-19 campaign, as the organization will allocate the funds to strengthen two areas that must operate simultaneously during the current pandemic. First, triage and protected healthcare professionals; and second, it will allow maternal and child health services and services for prevalent diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, HIV, and other infectious diseases that cause high mortality rates, even higher than those of COVID-19, to remain open.
Currently, the United States, Brazil, Peru, and Russia have the worst cases, with more than 10 million cases (501% of the world's total), followed by South Africa, Mexico, Peru, and Colombia. Spain, with 322,980 COVID-19 cases, ranks eleventh, and is facing several outbreaks and an increase in cases.
As the Coordinator of NGOs for Development in Spain stated in a statement dated July 8 of this year, cooperation has much to do in the face of the pandemic, which is why "the global dimension and international solidarity remain key to our survival as a country and as humanity."
By Adriana Castro TerĂĄn, Communications Manager for Juan Ciudad NGO.
Photos: Juan Ciudad NGO
