Preparedness, proactiveness and speed are key to tackling humanitarian emergencies

When Cyclone Idai hit Mozambique and the eastern part of Zimbabwe in mid-March, it couldn’t have come at a worse time. A month earlier, Zimbabwe had issued an emergency appeal for some 5.3 million people affected by an ongoing economic crisis, and limited rainfall had ruined crops. The sudden pounding rain and wind threw everything into chaos. Three hundred people died, hundreds disappeared and 40 000 lost their homes. Food insecurity plus a lack of basic services, including health care, skyrocketed in the hardest-hit province of Manicaland.

For Mumtaz Mia, the UNAIDS Acting Country Director in Zimbabwe at the time, the most pressing issue was to ensure that people living with HIV, including pregnant women, enrolled in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV programmes, could access HIV treatment.

“In Zimbabwe, where emergencies are not a new phenomenon, people living with HIV were left stranded when their medicine got washed away,” she said.

For her, preparedness is key. “For the AIDS response, we must anticipate any disruptions to services that emergencies bring.”

She recounted that the UNAIDS country office met with the government, civil society, donors and other key stakeholders to discuss immediate action. Quickly, they made sure that HIV-specific needs were integrated in the emergency response. That meant coordinating, with UNAIDS Cosponsors, the Ministry of Health and Child Care and the National AIDS Council, to ensure the distribution of antiretroviral therapy and condoms, food support for people living with HIV and safe deliveries for pregnant women. They also set up assessments to address additional health and HIV needs following the disaster.

Almost 150 000 people living with HIV were in the cyclone-affected districts, and about 83% of them were accessing antiretroviral therapy. Most of them experienced a disruption of treatment during the crisis.

The UNAIDS Country Director for the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Regina Lopez de Khalek, agrees.

“In a humanitarian emergency, you have to act really quick in order to save lives, which means reinventing your everyday tasks to focus solely on the crisis,” she said.

In her case, she is dealing with the impact on people living or affected with HIV, of a political and economic crisis that affects more than 80% of the population. Inflation in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has exploded, making basic food items beyond reach. Shortages have plagued the country, and medicine is no exception. Since May 2019, the country has recognized that there are some “humanitarian needs”, facilitating the delivery of medicine and rapid HIV and syphilis tests. With the help of international nongovernmental organizations, almost 60 tonnes of life-saving medicine have been delivered to the country. UNAIDS also worked for the country to receive emergency funds from partner organisations.

More recently, UNAIDS, the United Nations Population Fund and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees have jointly focused efforts to help people affected by stigma, discrimination and sexual violence. This included distributing post-exposure preventive kits, an emergency medical response for people exposed to HIV, to health services and introducing HIV tests to maternity units, as well as supporting civil society.

Original source: UNAIDS
Published on 15 August 2019