Covid preparedness and relief for North-east India in and around wildlife protected areas

The Eastern Himalaya Program (EHP) of the Nature Conservation Foundation works across three states in the eastern region of India – Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and northern West Bengal. In some of the sites, especially in Arunachal Pradesh, we have been working for over 20 years. In most of the sites where we work, proper medical facilities are located at great distances, over unreliable and landslide-prone roads. Often, the nearest healthcare facility is either a Primary Health Centre (PHC), Community Health Centre (CHC) and Health Sub-centre (SC). After consultation with local health authorities in NCF’s project sites, we found that many of these local health centres are poorly equipped to handle Covid-19 cases. This is particularly worrying as prospects of a third wave become more real, and with the northeastern region predicted to be the epicenter. We wish to assist and supplement the health centers with Covid medical supplies and equipment to better equip them to handle cases in anticipation of the next wave. Our target amount is INR 5340000

We reached out to 51 individual health centres across four states (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, northern West Bengal and Nagaland) to gather their medical needs. Additionally, with the help of our local networks, we identified families in some sites that needed basic ration supplies. The funds raised will enable us to supplement the supplies needed by the local health centers to handle current Covid cases and prepare for future surges.

The funds will be utilized to purchase Covid-care medical essentials for District Hospitals, CHCs, PHCs and sub-centres in some of the remote villages in parts of Northeast India where we currently work or have worked in the past. The items and amounts required have been determined by health practitioners.

The supplies and relief material will be distributed by our own field teams in most of the sites. In some sites where we currently do not have people on the ground, our local friends and well-wishers will help distribute the supplies. 

The Impact will be: (1) Medically equipped health centres that are able to handle Covid cases locally in difficult to access rural areas. (2) Immediate medical help for community members at each site. (3) Ration supplies for some families at one site who have been economically affected by the pandemic.