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UN agencies’ actions in India during the COVID-19 pandemic:
Following statement attributable to the Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General on 8 September:
We also have an update from our UN team in India, led by Resident Coordinator Renata Dessallien, on their work to support Government-led health and socioeconomic impacts, with over 4.2 million confirmed cases to date.
The World Health Organization has assisted with contact tracing of 8 million cases, while the UN Children’s Fund has trained 2.2 million health workers in Infection Prevention and Control, reaching 650 million children and families with life-saving information.
The UN team has also supplied personal protection equipment for the country. To reach the most vulnerable, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) helped 100,000 migrant workers access social protection and reached 100,000 sanitation workers with safety kits and 4,000 metric tons [[4 million kilos]] of dry rations.
For its part the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) trained nearly 5,300 sanitation workers on safe waste disposal. UNFPA also helped develop a helpline directory for women in distress and supported guidelines on reproductive and adolescent services during lockdown, while the International Labour Organization (ILO) supported guidelines for gender responsive job recovery. UNAIDS has reached out to 120,000 persons living with HIV while the UN refugee agency targeted 40,000 refugees and asylum seekers with critical information to prevent the spread of the disease.
The UN in India is also supporting the Government’s anti-stigma campaign, with over 170 million social media impressions in August alone.
