Request For IOM Afghanistan
Request For Call for Expression of Interest _ Emergency Response Project for COVID-19 hospital support_MHU_23052
- Background/Context of the program:
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has been providing emergency essential health services to Vulnerable population including Afghan returnees, refugee returnees, Migrants, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), and underserved hard-to-reach host populations in Afghanistan since January 2020, and has stood on the front lines of the UN's COVID-19 response in the country. IOM is currently operating in 12 provinces (Badghis Badakhshan, Balkh, Ghor, Herat, Kabul, Kandahar, Kunduz, Nangarhar, Nimroz , Takhar and Helmand) providing direct life-saving essential health services .
Since the beginning of the year, almost half a million people have received essential health assistance from IOM.
Afghanistan has one of the lowest scores on the Human Development Index, impacted by internal displacement, migration and return. The intensified armed conflict in 2021 and the resulting upheaval in August 2021, have resulted in further escalating humanitarian needs and a significant deterioration of the protection environment for civilians in the country. These factors exacerbate the vulnerabilities of a population already burdened by the COVID-19 pandemic, subsequent economic downturn, and a severe drought across the country (declared in June 2021). Internal displacement inside Afghanistan is driven by both conflict and natural disaster. There is now an estimated number of 2.6 million Afghan refugees worldwide and more than 5.8 million people displaced by conflict and disasters inside the country since 2012 , including both protracted and the 736,000 people newly displaced by conflict in 2021. The region is characterized by significant cross-border movements into neighboring countries from Afghanistan, as well as returns including 1,200,000 returnees from Iran and Pakistan in 2021, as reflected in the HNO overview 2022.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose a significant challenge to the health and wellbeing of Afghans, considering the country’s underdeveloped and fragile health systems, general living conditions and high rates of poverty. The recent announcement of severe funding cuts to the health system will have long-lasting implications, as organizations and donors’ step in to try and fill the gap. The high trends of cross-border mobilities with the neighboring countries, on-going dynamic and deteriorating security environment significantly impact all health indicators. Low testing capacity and vaccination rates for COVID-19, a reluctance on the part of community members to be tested, and socio-cultural norms have combined to further deter health seeking behavior. Afghanistan’s history of protracted violence has had a direct impact on the physical and mental health status of affected populations and compromises the overall functional capacity of health care services especially in remote/rural areas. This is also characterized by significant increases in the number of war trauma cases. The country also suffers from a high burden of Communicable Diseases (CDs) like tuberculosis and increasing prevalence of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). Afghanistan also faces more challenges in its response to the increasing needs for emergency health services due to the upheaval in August 2021.
With179,267 confirmed COVID-19 positive cases, and 7,690 causalities and less than 4,710,456 persons fully vaccinated , as reported by the Ministry of Health (MoPH)/ and World Health Organization (WHO), Afghanistan is one of the countries at heightened risk for a potential fourth wave of the pandemic. The public health system is already fragile due to lack of funding, widespread insecurity and economic downturn. Limited resources for testing also deter people accessing health services. Due to limited public health resources, lack of people coming forward for testing, as well as the absence of a national death register, confirmed cases of and deaths from COVID-19 are likely to be underreported overall in Afghanistan. Despite the new surge, widespread complacency and failure to follow public health advice in Afghanistan is creating grave risks in the community with people generally not observing physical distancing or mask-wearing protocols.
In this context there is a required need to provide support to health systems to continue health services through case management and infection prevention and control. This includes the community level support during home quarantine , case management and isolation of COVID-19 suspected and confirmed cases as well as COVID-19 vaccination. Further enhancing infection prevention and control measures within health facilities and at the community level and finally combat with this emergency in the provinces and prevent spread of virus across the country.
The outcomes under this proposal will directly contribute to maintaining and improving the COVID-19 response in Afghanistan. This will be achieved through increasing services and improving public health initiatives, and health systems at the provincial and district level and to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates.
The aim of this Request for Proposal (RFP) is to contract one or several local Implementing Partners, to support and provide Covid-19 response activities in the major provincial COVID-19 hospitals in Herat, Kandahar, Helmand and Nimroz provinces.