 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. 
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.
 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.
 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.
A Rohingya volunteer supported by CPI participates in fire debris clearing in Kutuplaong Refugee Camp, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (Shafiqur Rahman/CPI)
By the time the fire in Kutupalong Refugee camp was brought under control in the early hours of Tuesday, March 23, the devastation was hard to fathom. In just a few hours, it destroyed more than 10,000 shelters and displaced 50,000 people, half of whom are children. At least 11 people lost their lives, including three children. More than 500 people were injured, and at least 400 remain missing. An estimated 1,600 community facilities including hospitals, distribution points, and learning centers were lost in the fire.
 Ayesha with her newborn baby girl in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (CPI) Ayesha and Jannat are Rohingya refugees from Myanmar sheltering in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. They fled violence in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State in 2017 with their families, walking for many days to reach the Bangladesh border. Today, they live in Kutupalong, the world’s largest refugee camp. Both receive assistance from networks of Rohingya community health and water, sanitation and hygiene volunteers supported by Community Partners International (CPI). Here are their stories.
 A temporary COVID-19 screening clinic set up by the Ta'ang Health Committee in Shan State, Myanmar. (CPI/THC) On November 4, 2020, Community Partners International (CPI) held the second in a series of live webinars focused on “COVID-19 and Conflict in Myanmar’s Ethnic States”. At this second webinar, speakers from ethnic and community-based organizations in Myanmar’s Shan and Kachin States discussed their needs for additional assistance and support to ensure the effectiveness of their COVID-19 responses.
 Dr. Tom Lee receives the COVID-19 vaccine in Los Angeles. (Tom Lee)  As an ER doctor in Los Angeles, I was fortunate to receive the COVID-19 vaccine a few days ago. After more than ten months' battling the pandemic day-to-day in the ER, it was an emotional moment for my colleagues and me to begin administering these vaccines.
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