Country Case Studies of the Impact of COVID-19 in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Sudan Vol. II
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This review has addressed the impacts of COVID-19 on the health system with measures being taken based on the pillars adopted from the WHO preparedness strategy with additional cross cutting issues. Data sources such as WHO, CDC, ECDC, UNICEF, MoH/EPHI website, PubMed, humanitarian partner website and press releases were searched for relevant documents and articles then thematic analysis has been done.
This assessment focused on the broad adverse health and economic impacts of the COVID 19 pandemic in the IGAD region (based on data collated from member countries and cross country issues). The specific objectives of the study are to:
- Assess the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the countries and identify the health system’s response level and capacity at the national level.
- Identify the level of response or measures required by the regional and international community in regard to health assistance in the region.
- Understand the socio-economic and health situation in the refugee and IDP hosting areas and identify the health needs of the targeted communities (i.e. refugees and IDPs).
- Understand the overall economic impact of COVID-19 on the vulnerable groups of the population (underemployed/daily laborers, women and children engaged in informal business activities and micro and small enterprises
- Explore possibilities of domestic resources mobilization involving the public, private sector, and the diaspora, etc.
- Opportunities and challenges in the country context
- Provide recommendations that define and establish priorities for actions and resources necessary for the immediate response, so as to contain the spread of the pandemic and improve the resilience of more vulnerable groups.
- Draw policy recommendations for effective management of the pandemic to minimize its negative impact, the livelihoods (food security) and the economy (businesses), and for the recovery phase of the member countries and the sub region.