'COVIGRAM' - Providing COVID Relief in Rural UP

Since its inception, E&H Foundation has facilitated quality education for over 20,000 underprivileged children in Uttar Pradesh and helped in preventive healthcare. In 2020, due to the COVID emergency, we intervened in our work areas in UP, India reaching 30 villages, covering 6000 families and worked on enabling COVID mitigation and awareness campaigns along with facilitating access to entitlements and government programs. Besides, the foundation provided food kits to 1000 most vulnerable families. The ongoing second COVID wave in India is more intense and has penetrated rural and small semi-urban areas. This is very serious. Urgent efforts are needed to support underprivileged families as they continue to gasp for breath and struggle to establish timely access to healthcare support. The critical need is to address the lack of life-saving oxygen and essential medical supplies/facilities and to improve awareness amongst vulnerable population about COVID appropriate behaviour, managing minor cases at home, removing vaccine hesitancy etc. Efforts are also needed to improve the long-term resilience of vulnerable families by facilitating access to various government programs to support farmers, direct bank transfer, providing rations through PDS, enabling pension and increasing access to government insurance programs. There is a dire need to intervene and limit damage towards the ongoing healthcare and humanitarian crisis.

1. Limiting the spread of COVID by raising awareness and promoting COVID appropriate behaviour with underprivileged families along with large-scale mask distribution.
2. Advising on managing mild COVID cases in collaboration with district health administration aided by distribution and use of oxymeters by ASHA and teachers.
3. Facilitating access to life-saving oxygen through oxygen concentrators. These will be made available to patients on a rotational basis.
4. Facilitating access to PMJAY and state-sponsored health insurance to underprivileged families for hospitalization along with removing vaccine hesitancy and creating linkage to important Govt programs e.g. PMKSSY (subsidy to farmers), PDS, pension programs for widows, disabled and old age persons and MGNREGA etc.
5. Providing emergency food support to most marginalized households.

Through this appeal, E&H Foundation aims to reach 50 villages, covering 10,000 underprivileged families or 50,000 beneficiaries over the next 6 months. The budget outlay to carry out these activities is Rs 50 lacs. Specific impact areas are:

• Promoting COVID appropriate behaviour with 10000 families - 50,000 people.
• Distribution of masks to 6000 underprivileged families-30,000 masks.
• Providing critical oxygen supply to over 1000 patients on a rotational basis through arranging 25 oxygen concentrators.
• Providing 150 Oxymeters at village levels to ASHA and teachers based in the community for better home management of COVID cases and timely advice.
• Increasing access to government programs for 3000 families.
• Facilitating food support for 2000 marginalized families.