Navajeevan and the Corona Virus Pandemic
The Covid pandemic has badly affected all the disadvantaged communities that Navajeevan works in. The Government in India announced the first lockdown with no notice, stranding millions of migrant workers with no work and no support in the cities like Vijayawada. Every community depending on poorly paid work, casual work and independent workers with no extra support suffered terribly. On top of that if and when anyone was badly affected by the virus, the health system was unable to help them in most cases.
So the staff at Navajeevan have been spending a great deal of time trying to alleviate this suffering and prevent further suffering by:
- distributing meal kits to at least 700 migrants for a month
- distributing sanitisers, masks & medicines to at least 200 families
- managing a campaign to inform people of the need for masks, sanitisation and social distancing
- creating a mobile consultation service working with doctors and a referral services for those needing hospital treatment
Every day Navajeevan staff are inundated with please for oxygen, Remdesivir, hospital beds and convalescent plasma, so more funds are needed to help with this.
Navajeevan looked after 250 children in residential care in May 2021, when the State Government of Andhra Pradesh ordered 100 of these children with relatives, to stay with them during the latest lockdown. Navajeevan staff have been busy trying to ensure these children are not once again in danger.
BSNBB are launching an appeal to help Navajeevan cope with this emergency
