COVID-19 Response in Emergency

Preparedness and Response in a Rapidly Changing Global Landscape By James Achanyi Fontem, camlinknew This COVID-19 Coordination Call is part of a weekly series organised by Cameroonlink which seeks to showcase some creative and innovative approaches being adopted in real time to prepare and respond to the many needs of partners working on the ground around COVID-19. The goal is to identify creative solutions so that those who are most vulnerable get the support and services they desrve.

In the call, Cameroon Link moderates a panel of presenters, followed by a related discussion based on questions submitted by the audience. At the end, we share some of the latest key resources that have been posted in the camlinknews Presentations for the coordination call includes: Global Readiness for Major Disease Outbreak Response The Readiness initiative seeks to augment what already exists to build the capacity of Cicivl Society Organisation (CSO) and Non-governmental organisations (NGO) to respond to infectious disease outbreaks. Its 3 primary objectives are to: (i) improve CSO and NGO coordination, (ii) (ii) strengthen operational capacity, and (iii) (iii) adapt and develop technical readiness. Readiness is a partnership of organisations led by Save the Children. The presentation explains how Readiness was initiated to address gaps in the CSO and NGO response to disease outbreaks, and then outlines what they have done in relation to COVID-19, which includes: running COVID-19 readiness workshops across Cameroon, covering a range of issues including social and behaviour change communication and risk communication and community engagement to support national coordination mechanisms; and developing guidance documents. A number of lessons learned are shared that emerged from the workshops. They include the fact that there is a lack of community case management training among CBOs and NGOs and that COVID-19 guidelines are often removed from the lived reality of individuals. Evidence-based COVID-19 Response Training and Education Cameroon Link is a national health organisation that focuses on health system capacity building. They are on the frontlines of COVID-19 since November 2019, as they have a head office in Grand Hangar-Bonaberi, Douala City neighbourhood. This presentation describes Cameroon Link’s early response activities in several health districts of the country and how these were rolled out globally. One aspect of its response was the development of a readiness and response curriculum and training for community healthcare workers and frontline personnel. The presentation describes the training topics and how the training was designed to address the need to reach a lot of people remotely and in contexts where one size does not fit all. The model Cameroon Link developed involved, among other things, the train-the-trainers methodology with the support of IRESCO Cameroon, which allows for localisation of training and ownership. It also: made use of innovative delivery methods, which entailed work with partners to identify participants and coordinating the training designed to be flexible to allow content to be updated on an ongoing basis. COVID-19 - Community Perspectives Inform the Emergency Response This focuses on the work being done by Cameroon Link around community engagement, which includes misinformation management, establishing community feedback mechanisms, and creating stigma prevention messaging. Related to this, 6 lessons are shared that highlight the importance, among other things, of building trust, listening to the community, and keeping engagement dynamic and agile in a changing environment. The activity also offered 4 solutions guiding the work of Cameroon Link, especially around ABO Health District in the Littoral region of Cameroon. The project initiative emphasizes on including citizen listening and rumour tracking through surveys to inform community engagement and response, as well as building trust by working with key influencers. With the need to move away from face-to-face interaction, quoting a few examples of how Cameroon Link currently engages with communities and discusses, such as the use of community radio national network and hotlines.

Pioneering Local Manufacturing of prevention kits for Better Aid Cameroon Link looks at the work of Field Readiness, an organisation that seeks to address the issue of emergency equipment supply chains and the fact that 70-90% of aid is spent on logistics, as well as the fact that importing equipment from other countries causes unnecessary delays. Through 3D design, it has been able to move manufacturing closer to where items are required. The impacts are discussed, which include cost reduction and support to livelihoods and local business. A number of examples are offered, such as a simple umbilical cord clip and buckets for use in humanitarian crisis situations. In relation to COVID-19. Cameroon Link has activated the local manufacture of personal protective equipment like masks and health and hygiene equipment like buckets and soap. Here, people who have been trained in digital design and manufacturing are making a range of items. They are being supported by technical teams who test the designs before they go into larger production. From June 15, 2020, Cameroon Link began a series of weekly calls of community radio stations with the support of Farm Radio International Canada to convene members and partners to join the network and discuss their institutional positions around a range of topics related to COVID-19 in an effort to coordinate and support the national pandemic response in Cameroon. During each call, people sign up the Farm Radio International partnership agreement for discussion on opportunities and ask questions or share inputs. These discussions are included in the recording sheets of Farm Radio Intenational Canada as the key supporter of Cameroon Link initiatives on COVID 19.