Covid - 19 & Emergency Health Monthly Report
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COVID - 19 & EMERGENCY HEALTH MONTHLY REPORT JANUARY 2021 Table of contents ♦Table of Contents 1 ♦1.0 Introduction 2 ♦2.0 COVID - 19 Phase IV 3 ♦3.0 Emergency Preparedness Response 4 1. Restoration of Family Links 4 2. Points of Entry Operations for COVID - 19 Prevention and Response 5 ♦4.0 Other health services offered in January 2021 6 A. Blood Mobilization 6 B. Emergency Medical Services 6 ♦Road Traffic Injuries Pictorial 9 ♦5.0 Risk Communication and Community Engagement 12 ♦6.0 Water Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion (WASH) 13 ♦Water Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion (WASH) pictorial 15 ♦7.0 Challenges 16 ♦Achievements 16 ♦8.0 Partners 17 ♦Contact Us Back Page “Saving Lives” URCS COVID - 19 & Emergency Health Monthly Report - January 2021 1 1.0 Introduction The Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread rapidly both globally and nationally in Ugan- da. As of 31st January 2021, the COVID - 19 statistics were as follows: Global Confirmed cases Confirmed cases 102,083,344 102,083,344 Confirmed cases Uganda 39,579 Cummulative deaths Recoveries 324 14,051 Based on the URCS mandate, the National Society developed a COVID-19 preparedness and response plan of action that has been key in guiding the preparedness and response process. This is cured un- der the following seven intervention areas: Risk communication & Coordination 1 2 Community Engagemnt Surveillance (Including Infection Prevention & 3 contact tracing) 4 Control (IPC) 5 Safe & Dignified Burials (SDB) 6 Psychosocial support (PPS) URCS Capacity 7 Strengthening URCS COVID - 19 & Emergency Health Monthly Report - January 2021 2 2.0 COVID - 19: Phase IV During the last quarter of 2020, the Ministry of Uganda Red Cross is part of the Community En- Health in Uganda confirmed that the country was gagement Sub-Committee chaired by Professor experiencing Phase IV of the COVID-19 pandemic. Omaswa. To this end, the Prime Minister of Uganda - Hon. Currently, URCS is championing the roll out of the Ruhakana Rugunda launched the National Com- strategy in Kampala in close collaboration with munity Engagement Strategy which focuses on Ministry of Health, Kampala Capital City Authority addressing the community spread and directing and other Partners. efforts towards behavioral change for a COVID-19 free Uganda. ◊ Official launch of the National Community Engagement Strategy in 20th October 2020 at Hotel Afri- cana, officiated by the Prime Minister of Uganda - Hon. Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda. URCS COVID - 19 & Emergency Health Monthly Report - January 2021 3 3.0 Emergency Preparedness response In January 2021, Uganda Red Cross has focused From reports received from the RFL teams de- on emergency preparedness and response to cas- ployed at Entebbe and Mulago Regional Referral es arising from road traffic crashes, election vio- Hospitals, 144 phone calls were made by COVID-19 lence, COVID-19 prevention and response and in patients in Entebbe and Mulago and they were all this brief, COVID-19 related responses will take successful. precedence. According to the statistics on patients who have been able to restore and maintain family links with 1.Restoration of Family Links their family members, there was a noted increase Services to COVID - 19 patients in numbers compared to the previous months. The messages exchanged between family mem- During emergencies, a number of people lose bers included; sharing of the health status of the contacts and communication with their close fam- patients, requests for essential items from their ily members and loved ones. family members, requests for pick-up after be- ing discharged and several family members were Uganda Red Cross bridges this gap by providing informed about patients that required to get in emergency communication services to the affect- touch with their respective family members. ed people through a program dubbed ‘Resto- ration of Family Links (RFL).’ In January 2021, the Restoration of Family Links (RFL) services were offered in the refugee settle- The phone services are ments and referral hospitals such as Mulago and a means of offering Entebbe where COVID-19 cases are referred. psychosocial support Majority of the beneficiaries were able to restore and mental health well- family contacts through the phone services of- being of the people fered by the Uganda Red Cross. A total of 853 affected by COVID-19. phone calls were made out of which 482 calls were successful. Table 1: Summary statistics of RFL Services’ offered in January 2021 Service Entebbe Mulago Total Phone call attempts 56 24 80 Successful calls 54 21 75 Number of males served 36 12 48 Number of females served 20 12 32 Number of patients/ suspects by end of 48 96 144 the month Refugee settlements 709 URCS COVID - 19 & Emergency Health Monthly Report - January 2021 4 3.0 Emergency Preparedness response The activities implemented at the high risk POE’s 2.Point of Entry (POE’s) include: Operations for COVID - 19 ◊ Risk communication in communities close to the Prevention and Response border points, In November 2020, Uganda entered Phase IV of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Ministry of Health ◊ Screening all people crossing the border points, refocused its priorities and concentrated on dis- tricts with high cases and efforts directed towards ◊ Disinfecting trucks that bring in essential goods, implementing Community engagement and risk communication activities. ◊ Contact tracing and surveillance in communities, “URCS scaled down from Points of Entry that are ◊ Ambulance and referrals for contacts and com- not high risk and strengthened in areas with high firmed cases, COVID - 19 cases.” ◊ Offering psychosocial support to the affected Today, URCS is supporting the Government of families among other priorities as guided by the Uganda to implement prevention and response Ministry of Health and the National COVID-19 Task activities at 7 Points of Entry which include: Mu- force. tukula, Malaba, Elegu, Entebbe Airport, Busia, Mi- rama and Kikagati. Table 2: Summary highlights for support accorded to the following priority areas this month Activity Total Number of people screened at 7 Points of Entry 5,983 Number of people reached with risk communication 219,632 Number of communities (villages) reached with risk communication/ COVID-19 1,357 prevention messages Number of community alerts responded to 27 Litres of disinfectant sprayed (Points of entry) 3,324 Number of quarantined individuals reached with psychosocial services 0 Number of volunteers deployed at 7 Points of Entry 84 Number of COVID-19 contacts traced 144 Number of people reached with ambulance services / COVID-19 75 Number of people reached with ambulance services / non COVID-19 69 Number of people trained on COVID response 54 Number of PPEs distributed in January 0 Number of Phone calls made for family tracing 853 Total number of people served/ reached 226,794 URCS COVID - 19 & Emergency Health Monthly Report - January 2021 5 4.0 Other health services of- fered in January 2021 More health services were offered by URCS during the month of January 2021 that contributed to the B.Emergency Medical Services well-being of people amidst the COVID-19 Re- sponse time such as: Through the Ministry of Health, Uganda Red Cross ◊ Blood mobilization undertakes Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to ◊ Emergency Medical Services (EMS) save lives of people affected by life threatening emergencies such as road traffic accidents, disease outbreaks such as COVID-19 and other emergen- A.Blood mobilization cies. By September 2020, Uganda Red Cross with fund- ing from the Government of Uganda through the Safe blood, saves lives Ministry of Health procured additional 10 ambu- lances to re-inforce emergency response. These ambulances have been positioned on major high- As part of the mandate of the URCS, blood mobi- ways to support the country around hot-spots. lization remains a key lifesaving effort of the Na- tional Society. Through a coordinated mechanism with Ministry of Health, Uganda Red Cross ambulances support Uganda Red Cross continues to work with the COVID-19 related calls and response to highway Uganda Blood Transfusion Services under the Min- Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs). istry of Health to mobilize voluntary blood donors. In January 2021, the ambulance and referral ser- Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic, Uganda Red vices offered support to the general public with 15 Cross through its 51 branch network continues to ambulances (10 deployed for RTI and 5 for COVID mobilize community sessions aimed at mobilizing - 19, Below are statistics to detail the response: blood to meet the blood target of the country. SECTION ONE: ROAD TRAFFIC INJURIES Table 3: Road Traffic Injuries (RTI) per district District No. of District No. of 17,238 cases cases units of blood Budaka 1 Luwero 2 were raised in Bugweri 6 Masaka 1 January 2021 Buikwe 3 Mbarara 2 Hoima 5 Mityana 1 Blood donors are mobilized and screened to de- Jinja 7 Mubende 8 termine one’s eligibility to donate blood. Eligible donors are bled and blood prepared for storage Kakumiro 1 Mukono 1 and dispatch to hospitals. Kalungu 1 Soroti 1 Further details such as how much was utilized and Kampala 5 Tororo 3 is usable can be retrieved from the Uganda Blood Kywegegwa 1 Wakiso 3 Transfusion Services report on the same. Lira 1 Total 53 URCS COVID - 19 & Emergency Health Monthly Report - January 2021 6 4.0 Other health services of- fered in January 2021 : RTI Diagram 1: Bar Graph showcasing distribution of cases by District 22nd December 2020 to 22nd January 2021 Table 4: RTI cases by Gender Gender Total Female 14 Male 39 Total 53 URCS COVID - 19 & Emergency Health Monthly Report - January 2021 7 4.0 Other health services of- fered in January 2021: RTI Road Traffic Accidents by Gender In January 2021, Uganda Red Cross worked closely with the Government referral hospitals to receive emergency cases as indicated below: Table 5: Total number of RTI cases per receiving/ referral facility Total no.