ReliefWeb

August 26th, 2020 ― Doha: With funding from United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has commenced the execution phase of a project to support life-saving therapeutic and preventive nutrition services in Syria.

In the preliminary phase, the staff were hired and trained, and the target centers were rehabilitated. The project is coordinated with the local authorities and humanitarian organizations operating in the target areas.

A total of 127,000 persons will benefit from this project, which covers 15 towns and 24 camps of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northwestern Syria. Those include 16,000 pregnant women and 27,000 young girls and boys. The purpose of the project is to save lives and reduce health problems and mortality rates among young children, pregnant women, and nursing mothers from the most vulnerable groups in the northern part of the country, whether the IDPs or host communities.

It involves screening for mild, moderate, and severe malnutrition, providing micronutrients and nutritional supplements, referring the cases to specialized centers for treatment, and promoting public awareness about feeding newborns and young kids in emergency and other related topics.

To offer nutritional services, there will be seven centers and two rapid response teams comprising 34 health workers. This will ensure a broader outreach to the most affected populations of remote and priority areas. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, some adjustments were made to the nutritional programmes to minimize the risks of infection while ensuring continuous provision of life-saving nutritional services.

As regards health education, interactive and participatory informative techniques are employed in the project, to make it more likely for the target communities to adopt good health and dietary behaviors for a longer time after the completion of the project.

All the preventive measures approved by World Health Organization (WHO) are strictly applied. Structural changes were made to the mechanism of community activities for better protection against COVID-19, with a special focus on the communities most prone to the pandemic, such as IDP camps.

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About Qatar Red Crescent (QRCS)

Established in 1978, Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) is a humanitarian volunteering organization that aims to assist and empower vulnerable individuals and communities without partiality or discrimination. QRCS is a member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, which consists of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and 191 National Societies. QRCS is also a member of several GCC, Arab, and Islamic organizations, such as the Islamic Committee of International Crescent and the Arab Red Crescent and Red Cross Organization (ARCO). In this legally recognized capacity, QRCS has access to disaster and conflict zones, thus serving as an auxiliary to the State of Qatar in its humanitarian efforts — a role that distinguishes it from other local charities and NGOs. QRCS operates both locally and internationally and has ongoing international relief and development projects in a number of countries throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Europe. QRCS's humanitarian actions include providing support in disaster preparedness, disaster response, risk reduction, and disaster recovery. To mitigate the impact of disasters and improve the livelihoods of affected populations, QRCS provides medical services, healthcare, and social development to local communities. It is also active at the humanitarian advocacy front. With the help of a vast network of trained, committed staff and volunteers, QRCS aspires to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity.

QRCS works under the umbrella of the seven international humanitarian principles: Humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality.