Belarusian Red Cross, BELMED project join forces against COVID-19
13:41, 12 May
In April, the Belarusian Red Cross Society welcomed a new partner - the BELMED project which is funded by the European Union and implemented by UNDP, WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA in partnership with the Healthcare Ministry of Belarus. For the past month, a lot of joint work has been accomplished, primarily to disseminate information about coronavirus infection and its prevention.
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“It is very important that once the decision on cooperation was made, we immediately switched to concrete actions. Information materials, including those targeting the elderly, have been drawn up promptly. Volunteers were given personal protective equipment - masks, gloves and disinfectants. In the current situation, not only financial assistance, but also expert help is very important. We need experienced specialists who can quickly solve the problem, get things rolling. Eight volunteer coordinators, and a PR consultant have joined the Belarusian Red Cross Society team to help with the information campaign,” said Olga Mychko, Secretary General of the Belarusian Red Cross Society.
Oleg Dubovik, the project manager, stressed that in the current situation, people over 60 have become the key audience to be cared for. “For them, we have issued the Simple Tips leaflet with basic recommendations: stay at home, keep your distance, wash your hands, exercise, eat properly and keep your spirits up. It is important that the information campaign works as efficiently as possible. For example, we made the leaflets targeting the elderly for social networks in black and white, so that everyone could print them and place them on a bulletin board in their houses,” Oleg Dubovik said.
Many elderly people in self-isolation need the support of younger relatives, acquaintances, neighbors. Sometimes you just need to call and give good advice. A selection of such tips was made in the format of internet banners #Young to the Elders!
According to Maksim Razumovich, the head of the administrative and economic department at the Belarusian Red Cross Society, 145,000 color leaflets containing simple tips for the elderly, recommendations on how to behave in public transport, and advertising the information line 201 (the Good Helpline) have become a great help in the work. Part of them has already been handed over to public transport organizations. Volunteers will distribute them in Minsk, regional and district centers.
“For many lonely and elderly people in self-isolation, volunteers are perhaps the only people connecting them with the outside world. Of course, they need PPE, especially masks, gloves, disinfectants, to protect both their lives and the lives of the people they help. The first batch of 30,000 gloves were handed over to the Belarusian Red Cross Society on 20 April. Some 12,000 protective masks came a week later and over 1,100 liters of hand disinfectants in early May," said Elena Rusinovich, national coordinator for volunteerwork at the Belarusian Red Cross Society.
