As we grapple with the unprecedented crisis unfolding before us, the second wave of COVID19 infections in India, Action Against Hunger is playing its part in mitigating this situation

With health services disrupted and / or inundated due to record number of cases every day, we anticipate nutrition services and nutrition security to be affected for vulnerable population including – pregnant and new mothers and children under 5 years of age.

We have been providing nutrition support to such families and have delivered 200 tons of dry rations so far. We have mandates to supply 54 tons in the coming months and are in continues talks with our partners to provide nutritional support to additional families in both urban and rural regions.

Action Against Hunger India has well tested systems in place since March 2020 to provide counselling, mental and emotional support to these groups remotely. We have so far made over 48,000 counselling-based phone calls to families in need. Through phone-based sessions on nutrition, hygiene, maternal and childcare, stress management and mental health, awareness on COVID19 precautions and vaccinations, we plan to continue providing support to pregnant and new mothers, caretakes of children under 5 and vulnerable families for the next three months in all regions where we cannot reach.

To help ensure that government frontline workers continue to provide crucial services, Action Against Hunger is working with local authorities and its partners to provide PPE kits and other necessary equipment. We have so far supplied over 8300 PPE kits to Government hospitals and more than 2,49,000 face masks, gloves, sanitizers to local administrations in regions where we work kits with more in the pipeline for the coming months.

We are working closely with local authorities in regions where we work and providing them all the support that we can, in terms of – community awareness on precautions, vaccinations, social distancing and broadcasting key announcements, health infrastructure and measures by local Governments. We also continuously assess their needs and are building an agile support system in which we can do need based assistance – as the situation is very dynamic.

We are appealing to our partners, donors and patrons for increased funding to provide support to both local governments and affected families through dry rations, health care kits, hygiene kits, awareness campaigns on vaccination and precautions and any other means possible within our operational framework.

We are still operational in regions deemed safe by local governments with strict measures for personnel safety and security.  For any suspected cases that may come up, we are re-training our people on safety precautions, providing advisory on treatment and handling protocols.

We continue to closely monitor the situation daily and will share further updates soon. In case you need further information on our programs right now, please write to contact@actionagainsthunger.in

Key figures

• Action Against Hunger India is currently working in 4 states – Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat; 554 villages and 6 urban slum pockets.
• We are a team of over 200 humanitarian professionals. Till date, we have reached out to 41,400 pregnant and lactating women 6300 malnourished children and over 1200 Government frontline workers.
• 48,000 phone calls made to provide psychosocial support to families with more being done every week.
• 200 tons of dry rations provided to vulnerable families with 54 tons to be delivered in the coming months.
• 249,264 face masks, shields, gloves and sanitizers provided to government frontline workers.
• 8331 PPE kits provided to local authorities and hospitals in Mumbai.
• 1006 parents trained on using MUAC tapes at home to track their child’s health.
• 456 villages and 2 slums pockets covered through the COVID19 mass awareness initiative.