COVID Support for health facilities supported through the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
PEPFAR currently supports 11 high volume facilities in Western Area, and that support is administered by the US Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA). Working through one of its implementing partners, ICAP at Columbia University, a package of interventions was developed and approved. The interventions include infection prevention & control (IPC) training for health workers, with an emphasis on COVID-19, appointment spacing and multi-month medication dispensing and remote monitoring, erecting tents to be used as screening and triage areas prior to allowing clients to enter the health facility; and purchase of bedside oxygen concentrators for patients with serious cases of COVID. The tents were initially used for the training while getting screening services in place.
ICAP analyzed findings of a health facility rapid needs assessment to tailor interventions to each facility.
These interventions will continue until all 11 facilities are reached. Oxygen concentrators arrived in Sierra Leone this week and will be deployed quickly to support the national COVID-19 response.
Below, ICAP’s Dr. Ginika Egesimba conducts IPC training at one of the first six facilities to receive this support.
