COVID-19 and Project HOPE’s Evolving Response
From urgent action in the first weeks of the pandemic to our expanded focus on mental health, pandemic preparedness, and health system strengthening, Project HOPE’s response to COVID-19 has been a comprehensive effort.
>> Read more about Project HOPE’s impact during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic
In late 2019 and early 2020 — before most of the world even knew the word COVID-19 — Project HOPE’s team of global health experts and emergency response professionals were hard at work preparing our staff and partners to respond when health systems around the world became overwhelmed by the virus.
Our teams implemented a highly coordinated, whole-of-organization response to COVID-19, including regional partnerships to monitor the spread of the virus, the delivery of lifesaving protective gear to the hardest hit regions, deployments of medical volunteers, trainings to protect the mental health of frontline health workers, targeted vaccine outreach to communities without regular access to primary health services, and working with partners to ensure the continuity of health services around the world.
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The Power of Urgent Action
Project HOPE’s team mobilized quickly to respond to the needs of health workers, communities, and health systems impacted by the pandemic. Together, with the support of our donors and partners:
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- Project HOPE delivered PPE to overworked health workers in 20 countries, including India, Nepal, Lebanon, Honduras, Colombia, Navajo Nation, and the United States (Arizona, California, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, and Texas).
- Through our volunteer teams, we provided surge support in health systems that brought care to thousands of patients in ICUs, surge units, and COVID-19 testing units in Texas, Navajo Nation, Illinois, and Maryland.
- Project HOPE was one of the only international relief organizations responding on the ground in China at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, providing millions of facemasks, isolation gowns, protective coveralls, exam gloves, and other protective gear. Some of the first nurses to treat the virus in China were trained at the HOPE School of Nursing in Wuhan. Project HOPE also provided lifesaving medical equipment to support patient care and treatment, including disinfection machines, medical air compressors, and ventilators.
- We launched online trainings for doctors and nurses to become Master Trainers in infection prevention and control. The trainings are now available for free on DisasterReady.org.
- We improved access to tens of thousands of COVID-19 vaccines via free and charitable clinics across five states through a program funded by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration to help thousands of people in underserved communities access the vaccine, including refugees, migrants, and undocumented persons.
Strengthening Health Systems for the Long Term
In our response to COVID-19, our team learned valuable lessons that have expanded our capacity to respond strategically to future health and humanitarian crises. As emergency responders and global health experts, we know how to deliver lifesaving aid, tackle complex global health challenges like infectious diseases, and equip health workers and their communities with the tools they need to create impact that lasts.
Despite the supply chain difficulties in the early stages of the pandemic, our capable logistics and emergency response teams were able to adapt, work with partners, and ultimately deliver more than 31 million pieces of PPE across 20 countries.
As misinformation spread and vaccine confidence became a critical global health challenge, Project HOPE coordinated with regional partnerships to share information, reached 381,000 people with COVID-19 education, and equipped community health workers with best practices for vaccine outreach in medically underserved communities.
The stress of the pandemic and its challenges has taken a heavy toll on health workers around the world. Many health workers are experiencing increased rates of anxiety, depression, and insomnia. To meet the needs of health workers and prevent health systems from collapsing, Project HOPE launched mental health and resiliency trainings for health workers. Our team then partnered with local organizations to bring this important resource to more than 100,000 health care workers in 41 countries.
The impact of this work has gone beyond the pandemic. In Sudan — a country experiencing prolonged conflict and major humanitarian crises — Project HOPE’s mental health and resiliency trainings are helping health workers protect their psychological well-being. Our implementing partner in Sudan has received feedback from Sudanese health workers who are continuing to provide care amidst unimaginable violence and strife that “this training was one of the most beneficial trainings — that it has helped them strengthen their coping mechanisms and enhance their psychological well-being during this difficult time.”
Project HOPE is also engaging in policy advocacy on global health issues to complement our important global health and humanitarian work. Project HOPE regularly advocates for locally led development, which places the power of development funding and other resources directly in the hands of local partners on the ground in affected communities.
Our teams are passionate about maximizing the impact of our work and we believe that bringing local voices in as experts improves global health development work. Through our COVID-19 response, and our response to health and humanitarian crises during the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Project HOPE has formed lasting relationships with health workers and local partners around the world in every region. We seek to build upon these relationships and prioritize locally led development and local capacity strengthening as we respond to health crises, humanitarian emergencies, and infectious threats in the future.
You Can Help
Project HOPE is continuing to respond to health and humanitarian crises — including infectious disease threats and global health security concerns around the world. Here’s how you can help.
Donate. Our ability to respond when health emergencies spread depends on the generosity of people like you. Please make a generous donation today — you’ll help our teams prepare for emergencies before they happen and respond quickly when disaster strikes, so we can help communities around the world when we’re needed most.
Volunteer. Are you a healthcare or other professional who would like to learn more about volunteering abroad with Project HOPE? Learn more about our volunteer program and join our volunteer roster.
Spread the word. Our work is only possible when people passionate about health workers and the communities they serve come together to raise awareness for this lifesaving work. Connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok, Youtube, and Twitch — and help spread the word by sharing stories that move and inspire you.
Fundraise. Support our team by motivating your friends and family to join you in saving lives with Project HOPE:
Previous Updates
Project HOPE is working with local partners and government officials in India to facilitate the rapid procurement and distribution of PPE, oxygen supplies, ICU equipment, ventilators, and other critical items as the country faces a devastating wave of COVID-19.
Initial plans target five states in India, where Project HOPE is coordinating with government officials to get supplies to hospitals and clinics where they are needed most.
Project HOPE and its network of Indian civil society organizations have delivered health-related programs in India over the past decade, with its most recent project being focused on community-based health and hygiene promotion in Odisha state. In collaboration with our local NGO partner in Odisha, India, HOPE has identified potential areas of response to be in Odisha, West Bengal, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Delhi, India. Identified needs include oxygen tanks, tents and tubes, ICU beds, PPE, and decontamination units.
India has reported more than 18 million cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, but experts warn that the real number could be as much as 30 times higher. The second wave of COVID-19 has brought a dramatic increase in new cases of the disease since March: In the past month, daily case rates have increased tenfold and are setting new single-day records every day.
Learn more about our response to the COVID-19 surge in India.
United Airlines is donating funds to deliver desperately needed ventilators to 11 hospitals in Hubei Province, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, which remains under lockdown and continues to host the highest number of cases.
The ventilators, which can help save the life of a critically ill patient with a respiratory illness like COVID-19, will be delivered to the hospitals by Project HOPE’s team in China in coming days.
Additionally, part of a second shipment has also arrived, including 12 pallets of protective equipment donated by Latter-day Saint Charities. This shipment has been delivered to the Shanghai Children’s Medical Center. An additional four deliveries of 68 more pallets will arrive Tuesday.
As China continues to urgently call for medical equipment and surgical masks, additional airlifts of protective equipment are planned in the coming days and weeks.
As supplies are running low in China, Project HOPE is mobilizing multiple airlifts of personal protective gear and other critical medical supplies to support doctors and nurses in Wuhan.
Right now, Project HOPE staff in China are prepared to receive the first airlift on Sunday, which will include more than 2 million respirator masks, 280,000 pairs of gloves, and 11,000 protective coveralls provided by MAP International and MedShare, utilizing in-kind transport from UPS.
HOPE will support the delivery of the supplies to Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention and onward to hospitals in Wuhan.
Project HOPE is airlifting critical supplies to frontline health workers in Wuhan, China, including 220,000 face masks, 870 pairs of protective goggles, and more than 6,500 pairs of protective coveralls. The donations are from Latter-day Saint Charities and will be bound for Wuhan in the coming days.
“Personal protective equipment is often the only barrier between a doctor or nurse and the critically ill patient during a disease outbreak,” said Rabih Torbay, President and CEO of Project HOPE. “The items being flown to Wuhan will help replenish stockpiles in hospitals on the front lines of this outbreak, some of which Project HOPE has supported for nearly 20 years.”