COVID-19: The Middle East faces a health crisis and a socio-economic earthquake – Iraq

Fabrizio Carbone, director of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Middle East at the International Committee of the Red Cross and Middle East, says countries affected by the conflict need urgent support to stop the spread of COVID-19 and prepare for what could be devastating.

“The Middle East today faces the twin threats of possible mass virus outbreaks in areas of conflict and looming social and economic turmoil. Both crises may have severe humanitarian consequences.

The COVID-19 pandemic threatens to be a global social and economic earthquake. It will be felt in the conflict areas of the region, where millions already deal with little or no health care, food, water, and electricity, lost livelihoods, high prices and destroyed infrastructure.

Deep humanitarian needs will worsen and new ones arise if the international community does not take social and economic shocks into our response. Local authorities and responders must be supported now to ensure that people’s lives, livelihoods and food security are protected later.

The much-needed public health measures like closures and curfews are already making it difficult or impossible for many people to support themselves and their families. Small stores are closed. The cafes sit empty. Street vendors have lost their bystander trade. Switching to working online can leave many people behind. Over time, levels of hunger, malnutrition, chronic disease and stress associated with economic problems can rise.

Across the Middle East, many people are already living direct lives, struggling to survive and rebuild their lives in the face of vast difficulties. In Syria, seeing children the same age as my game in the camps is a modest experience. They are some millions of people we help get clean water every day. In Iraq, mothers and widows have told me what it means to support their small businesses for their families. This support will be more important than ever in the coming months as we face this epidemic together.

With our Red Cross and Red Crescent partners, we are doing our best to help the most vulnerable people in the region and to strengthen efforts to prevent the spread of the virus. In Yemen, our life-saving support for hospitals, clinics and dialysis centers now includes assistance in preparing for COVID-19 prevention. In Syria and Iraq, we assist prisons in their infection control measures. Supporting trucking water to camps, displacement shelters and places of detention ensures that people have access to clean water for washing. Toiletries for the displaced and detainees include soap and shampoo.

On a larger scale, water and sanitation services, energy provision, food and household distribution and microeconomic initiatives need to continue and increase where possible, enhance support for fragile systems and serve basic needs that may be overwhelmed by the epidemic. Now in Yemen, we have teams on field trips to register people who need help. Across the region, we want to increase our support in the coming months, especially for people who may be particularly affected such as low-income workers, women heads of families, farmers, and people with disabilities.

We have changed the way we work to keep the safety of employees and people we help, by using long distances during distributions, wearing protective gear, and changing how we provide some assistance and cash transfers, for example. We will continue to adapt and innovate. We will increase our assistance to those most in need, working with our Red Cross and Red Crescent partners and tens of thousands of volunteers who go out every day to help their communities throughout the Middle East, through the epidemic and beyond. “

Examples of the ICRC’s response in the Middle East to the COVID-19

Syria: Donate toiletries for detainees, as well as protective equipment and materials such as disinfectants, gloves, protective glasses and garments for the central prisons of the Ministry of the Interior; preventive measures in the field hospital of the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in Al-Hol camp; hygiene kits reach 750,000 displaced over the next three months .

Iraq: donate protective equipment and materials such as disinfectants, gloves, protective glasses and clothing to health facilities and places of detention throughout the country. To date, 18 primary health care centers, two hospitals and 15 physical rehabilitation centers have been donated, in addition to 27 places of detention holding over 45,000 detainees.

Yemen: Training, preventive information and materials distributed to supported hospitals, primary health care centers and dialysis centers, along with ongoing support for these facilities; a public information campaign including audio points on COVID prevention measures.

Gaza: donated 20,000 masks and other protective materials to the Palestine Red Crescent Society; support the quarantine efforts of the authorities by donating blankets, mattresses and hygiene kits. Supplying infrared thermometers to check suspected cases and other medical equipment.

Lebanon: Support the country’s main COVID-19 testing and treatment facility, Rafic Hariri University Hospital, to enhance response and bed capacity; work with the detaining authorities in Roumieh Prison to improve facilities and establish a buffer block for suspicious and confirmed cases.

Jordan: provided hygiene and protection equipment for detention facilities and correctional facilities; cash transfer programs for Syrian refugees continue with preventive measures.

Iran: The ICRC donated 500,000 Swiss francs to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, which leads response and service delivery in many areas, including prison cleansing and examination and treatment of patients, media campaigns and livelihood support for the affected vulnerable.

Current humanitarian needs and the ICRC’s response in the Middle East

Half of the medical facilities in Syria and Yemen are not operational.

Three of the ICRC’s five largest humanitarian operations in 2019 were in the Middle East – Syria, Yemen, and Iraq

In these three countries alone, about 40 million people need humanitarian assistance

The ICRC provides water and sanitation support to the authorities throughout the region – Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Jordan, Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon

The ICRC provided food assistance to 2 million people in the Middle East in 2019.

For more information, please contact:

Inge Sedky, ICRC spokesperson for Syria, +201005770750, [email protected]

Yara Khweja, spokesperson for the International Committee for Yemen, +961 70661374, [email protected]

Sahar Tawfiq Suleiman, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Iraq, +964 7901916927, [email protected]

Rona Halabi, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Lebanon, +96170153928, [email protected]

Suheir Zaqout, ICRC spokesperson in Gaza, phone: +972 59 92 55381, [email protected]

Sarah Al-Zogari, ICRC spokesperson for the Middle East, +961 3138353, [email protected]

Ruth Heatherington, ICRC spokesperson for the Middle East, +41 79 447 3726, [email protected]

Matt Maurice, Head of Communications, ICRC London, +44 7753 809471, [email protected]

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