STRENGTHENING RESILIENCE OF SOUTH CAUCASUS COMMUNITIES TO HEALTH EMERGENCIES

Disasters, crises and other emergencies often result in significant impacts on people’s health, including loss of lives.

The project was implemented in Tavush, Syunik, Vayots Dzor and Yerevan. It aimed to strengthen the resilience of local communities in Armenia to withstand and reduce negative impacts of disasters and crises on health, through pandemic preparedness, epidemic control, water hygiene and sanitation, response to mass-casualty events, first aid, psychosocial support.

The project contributed to the enhancement of public health in emergencies capacities. Trained community volunteers worked within their communities building resilience to health-related emergencies.

To achieve this the following actions were implemented:

• Multi-sectoral cascade community-based capacity building actions.
• Community-based surveillance system.
• Health in emergencies stocks to allow immediate response to disasters.
• Policy-level actions to support local health authorities in the implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR) and to enhance mechanisms of inter-sectoral coordination.

 The project was implemented from October 2019 until September 2020 with financial support from USAID/ OFDA and in partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Cross Societies (IFRC).