 A screenshot from Relief Connect showing distribution of oxygen concentrator banks in Nepal. (CPI) COVID-19 moves fast, and ever faster as new, more infectious variants emerge. This creates challenges for all public health systems but especially those in low-resource settings like Nepal. In these contexts, the ability to track resource needs and gaps in an accurate and timely way and deploy limited resources efficiently becomes even more crucial in the race to save lives.
Seeking to address these challenges in Nepal, Community Partners International (CPI), the blockchain tech company Ibriz and design agency Kazi Studios have created an open online platform called Relief Connect - reliefconnect.org.  Samiyun at the Chakar Mobile School. (IHF) When seven-year-old Samiyun first started to attend the Chakar Mobile School, he struggled to adapt. Growing up in Dhaka’s slums, he had never had the opportunity to enroll in formal school. Instead, while his parents were out at work, he spent his days running the streets of his neighborhood with older children. His mother, a garment worker, and his father, a day laborer, work long hours with few days off. As they struggle to put food on the table, they don't have much time to devote to Samiyun and his younger sister.
A shipment of 130 oxygen concentrators supplied by Community Partners International reaches Tribhuvan Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal on May 29, 2021. (CPI)
On May 29, 2021, Community Partners International’s first shipment of 130 high-flow oxygen concentrators to Nepal touched down at Tribhuvan Airport in Kathmandu. Sourced in the United States, and airlifted with assistance from Direct Relief, the concentrators will help the people of Nepal in their desperate struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic.
 A medical doctor supported by Community Partners International provides care at Sadar Hospital, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (Md. Dipu/CPI) “This partnership improves the hospital’s ability to provide comprehensive emergency care for vulnerable patients.” Dr. Md. Mahbubur Rahman, Cox's Bazar Civil Surgeon As Bangladesh and South Asia experience spikes in COVID-19 cases, Community Partners International (CPI) and Green Hill have mobilized to help Sadar Hospital in Cox’s Bazar cope with a rise in patients needing care.
 Tasmin (left) is visited by Monjur, a Community Immunization Volunteer supported by Community Partners International and Green Hill. (CPI) "I didn’t understand what a vaccine was. I just heard that they can leave permanent marks on the skin and cause fever." Tasmin, 24, pregnant mother of two children Tasmin’s perception of vaccines is fairly common among her fellow Rohingya refugees in Kutupalong, Bangladesh, the world’s largest refugee camp. With limited access to accurate health information, misunderstandings and false rumors can travel rapidly within the community.
 An oxygen concentrator in use at Saroj Gupta Cancer Centre & Research Institute, Kolkata, West Bengal, May 15, 2021. (TMC) The photograph above shows a COVID-19 patient at Saroj Gupta Cancer Centre and Research Institute in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, using an oxygen concentrator provided by Community Partners International and partners. This is one of 4,759 concentrators that have now reached India on five relief flights. They have been distributed to more than 70 health facilities in 19 states and territories where needs are greatest. At least 500 more are scheduled to be shipped later this month.
 Oxygen concentrators are loaded onto a Fedex cargo plane bound for Mumbai, India. (Direct Relief/Tony Morain) On May 9, a Fedex cargo plane from Newark touched down in Mumbai, India. On board were more than 3,400 oxygen concentrators procured by Community Partners International (CPI) in partnership with Navya and Direct Relief. A few hours later, an Air India passenger plane reached Delhi with an additional 400 concentrators. These are the third and fourth humanitarian shipments delivered to India by Community Partners International and partners in the past two weeks that will help many thousands of people survive COVID-19.
Community Immunity: Rohingya Immunization Volunteers Poised to Support COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout5/4/2021
 Mohammad Taher is a Rohingya Community Immunization Volunteer supported by Community Partners International (CPI) and Green Hill in the world's largest refugee camp in Bangladesh. Each day, he visits households in his neighborhood to help pregnant and women and young children get vaccinated against deadly diseases.
 Scenes at a COVID-19 Medical college hospital in Kolkata, India, on 26 April, 2021. (Mr Subir Halder/Shutterstock.com) Right now, tens of thousands of people with COVID-19 across India are struggling to breathe. Hospitals are overwhelmed and oxygen supplies are running desperately short. People are dying in their homes and in the streets.
 Noor Bahar at her shelter in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (CPI) Noor Bahar’s family was killed during the violence in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State in 2017. The only survivor, she fled across the border to Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, where she now lives as a refugee in Kutupalong Refugee Camp. With no family members to help her, she relies on the support of community volunteers in her neighborhood. As an asthma sufferer, she has to take care of her health, especially with the threat of COVID-19.
One evening in March, Noor suffered an acute asthma attack in her shelter. A passerby saw her struggling to breathe and alerted Zainul Mostofa, a Rohingya Community Health Volunteer supported by Community Partners International (CPI). |
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