Enhancing Mother Newborn and Child Health - Response to COVID-19

This project works to respond to the threat of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Cambodia and the Philippines by reducing or preventing local COVID-19 transmission and the disproportionate gender effects of COVID-19 on women and girls at the household community and structural level in Cambodia and the Philippines. Project activities include: (1) providing support to individuals especially women and girls to gain access and control over the practical resources necessary for their health and well-being during the pandemic such as personal protective equipment psychosocial support food and financial support kits and materials for menstrual hygiene for those in quarantine or isolation; (2) supporting vulnerable households who have lost their livelihoods through counseling and mediation assistance to extend loans and delay repayment schedules as well as provide supports to assist with continuity of farming and fishing and provide targeted cash transfers and/or nutritional food assistance kits; (3) supporting the continuity of life saving health services such as sexual reproductive health and rights and gender-based violence services and family care needs; (4) raising public awareness with local partners on matters related to COVID-19 sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence via radio information education and communication materials social media SMS blasts and loudspeaker; and (5) building the capacity of institutions to reduce transmission and respond to the gender specific needs of those impacted by the pandemic. This project expects to reach 106 535 people. This project also provides border quarantine support which contributes to protecting an estimated total population of 3 005 018 people.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) improved utilization of gender-equitable and environment-sensitive essential health services by mothers pregnant women newborns and children under five; (2) increased gender-equitable consumption of nutritious foods and supplements by mothers pregnant women newborns and children under five years of age in communities with vulnerable or marginalized groups in Cambodia the Philippines Myanmar and Rwanda; and (3) increased engagement of Canadian women and men including youth in global maternal newborn and child health and nutrition.