资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

Kalobeyei, Kenya 6 April 2020—Although no case of Covid-19 has been reported in the settlements of Kalobeyei and Kakuma in northern Kenya, UN-Habitat has instituted several preventive and preparedness actions to protect the refugees and host communities.

In the two refugee camps, the newly instituted actions by UN-Habitat are in line with the recently published Covid-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan, where the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Gutteres, said “the world faces a global health crisis unlike any in the 75-year history of the United Nations”. Around the world, developed countries with extensive healthcare systems and resources are struggling to respond and contain the spread of the pandemic. There are grave concerns over the potential impact of Covid-19 in less developed countries, and its effect on vulnerable populations all over the world. These include displaced populations, refugees and hosts that depend heavily on humanitarian operations.  

In response, international humanitarian and health organisations have released guidance and recommendations - WHO has published a “Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan to COVID-19", with health practise guidelines, and emphasizing the importance of multi-sectoral partnerships. The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) has released the “Interim Guidance Scaling-up COVID-19 Outbreak Readiness and Response Operations in Humanitarian Situations”. Various UN agencies are adapting existing activities into the new reality, factoring the pandemic into their programming.