About Samaritan's Purse
Samaritan’s Purse is an international Christian relief organization based in the United States. Specialized in emergency relief, Samaritan’s Purse provides health, nutrition, water sanitation and hygiene (WASH), education and livelihoods programmes in over 100 countries worldwide. The Samaritan’s Purse field offices manage a wide array of health programs, including direct provision of healthcare in primary, secondary, and tertiary facilities, as well as programmatic support to local Ministries of Health and community-focused programming. From 2019 to 2020, over 400 000 patient consultations were completed as a result of disaster responses and country-specific programming. Leveraging experience combatting other infectious diseases such as Ebola, Cholera and Diphtheria, Samaritan’s Purse responded to the COVID-19 emergency in March 2020 by simultaneously deploying two field hospitals in New York City and Cremona, Italy, two of the hardest hit locations at the time. In addition, since the start of the outbreak, country-specific activities included the following: training of over 700 000 persons on COVID-19 protective measures, distribution of over 190 000 personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies, over 1650 handwashing stations constructed and 385 health facilities supported.
Samaritan's Purse in action
As a result of violence and instability, Venezuelan refugees and migrants crossed the border into Colombia with an estimated 1.7 million remaining in Colombia and 500 000 staying temporarily while in transit to another country, according to the 2020 Humanitarian Needs Overview. The cross-border migration patterns and the emergence of COVID-19 have further strained the ability of health systems to respond to the existing pressures in the country such as the presence of armed groups, forced confinements, natural disasters and areas lacking basic services. An estimated 8.5 million people are in need across the 32 provincial departments of Colombia, of which 3.5 million are refugees and migrants.
Samaritan’s Purse
A Mobile Health Brigade in a Yukpa migrant community where Samaritan’s Purse is providing general medical care and COVID-19 awareness and prevention training
A Mobile Health Brigade in a Yukpa migrant community where Samaritan’s Purse is providing general medical care and COVID-19 awareness and prevention training
©
Credits
In response, as part of the Health Cluster efforts to support the Ministry of Health, Samaritan’s Purse focuses on surveillance for contact tracing, monitoring the health of those in quarantine, raising awareness about COVID-19 prevention and treatment and technical assistance to analyze the effectiveness of the response. To date, Samaritan’s Purse has conducted over 6 000 COVID-19 screenings and nearly 16 000 follow-up calls with COVID-19 confirmed and suspected cases. Operating in the department of Norte de Santander and La Guajira, Samaritan’s Purse focuses on high-risk areas such as Cúcuta, La Parada and Puerto Santander to reach vulnerable populations such as refugees, migrants and indigenous communities. On a weekly basis, Samaritan’s Purse medical brigades provide primary health care to the most vulnerable, in 2019, over 10 351 in Norte de Santander and 17 137 in La Guajira. Samaritan’s Purse nurses also work directly with the Departmental Institute of Health (IDS) in Norte de Santander and coordinate with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to enhance access to medical services for most vulnerable populations along the border.
Samaritan’s Purse staff are conducting risk communication and community engagement activities along the border. To date, they have reached out to more than 6 000 members of migrant and host communities with COVID-19 infection prevention and control measures such as proper handwashing, and social distancing. While providing education and awareness, Samaritan’s Purse is screening for COVID-19 symptom identification and refers as necessary to ensure beneficiaries receive the appropriate care. To contribute to the surveillance activities, Samaritan’s Purse conducts screening for COVID-19 with in-person visits in the community and then follow-up calls, all of which are entered into the national database for contact tracing and epidemiological purposes. Their community engagement efforts also target the Wayu and Yukpa indigenous populations via mobile medical brigades to better understand how COVID-19 is impacting indigenous groups, which PAHO warns are experiencing higher rates of infection and mortality associated with COVID-19 in both urban and remote settings.
Samaritan’s Purse
Samaritan’s Purse staff conduct training with members of Yukpa indigenous groups arriving from Venezuela
Samaritan’s Purse staff conduct training with members of Yukpa indigenous groups arriving from Venezuela
©
Credits
In partnership with the Centro Regulador Urgencias y Emergencias (CRUE), the governmental body responsible for responding to medical emergencies and natural disasters, Samaritan’s Purse is also responding to the COVID-19 outbreak in La Guajira. Medical doctors with Samaritan’s Purse are performing hospital bed occupancy rate analyses for suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases in both public and private health facilities with preventative care (level 1) and urgent care (level 2) services. Samaritan’s Purse staff record the number of beds occupied and available for suspected, probable and confirmed COVID-19 cases twice daily and collaborate with partners in the Department of La Guajira’s public and private hospital network. Finally, medical staff are also providing technical assistance to evaluate the social security health system’s contingency plans for the COVID-19 pandemic, including capacity to treat patients and referral pathways for suspected or confirmed cases to be directed to a higher-level health care facility.
The work of Samaritan’s Purse among migrant communities in border departments of Colombia has brought to light the concern that migrant populations may not have sufficient access to COVID-19 testing. “The health system does not yet have full capacity to support the most recent large influx of Venezuelan migrants.” Notes Dr. Paula Melo, Samaritan’s Purse Medical Program Manager in Colombia. “Only those with a Permit of Permanence (PEP) have guaranteed access to health services such as COVID-19 testing and care. June 2020 data from Migración Colombia demonstrate that 762 857 Venezuelan migrants have PEP status, meaning nearly a million others would not have access to COVID-19 testing and care if not for humanitarian partners.” In response, Samaritan’s Purse worked to sign agreements with public and private hospitals to finance RT-PCR test and rapid antigen tests for suspected COVID-19 cases among migrant populations with lower access to health care services. This approach and the relationships with both private and public sectors will be key to enhancing access to any future vaccines or treatments for COVID-19 among migrant groups.
Samaritan’s Purse has been a partner of the Colombia Health Cluster since April 2019, participating in regular meetings and 4W matrix exercises to map partners’ capacities to respond to the needs of vulnerable groups in the country. With the support of IMMAP and USAID, the Colombia Health Cluster has published a dashboard to map partner engagement across the three major plans, the COVID-19 response plan, the Humanitarian Response Plan and the Refugee and Migrant Response Plan.
Health Cluster engagement
COVID-19 Task Team
Member (2020-Present)
Colombia Health Cluster
Partner (April 2019-present)
Global Health Cluster
Member (2018-present)
Quality Improvement Task Team
Member (2018-present)
At the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, the IMC country director joined the South Sudan Health Cluster’s NGO Steering Committee to coordinate and align the non-governmental response, prioritizing case management for COVID-19. IMC was the first Health Cluster partner to establish a fully operational isolation facility. Since the Ministry of Health launched the common personal protective equipment (PPE) request system, IMC has procured and distributed more than 50,000 PPE items in a coordinated response with the Logistics Cluster and 22 other partner organizations, which enabled 60% of the in-country stock to be dispatched where most needed by early May. The Ministry of Health, the South Sudan Doctors Union, and IMC collaborated on 30 Training of Trainers sessions on case management and has directly trained healthcare workers on COVID-19 treatment and prevention measures in Juba, Malakal and Wau.
IMC continues to provide relief for COVID-19 alongside maintenance of essential health services during humanitarian crises as a key partner in the health clusters of the following countries: Afghanistan, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, DRC, Ethiopia, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, and Yemen. IMC has been an active supporter of shared leadership and has been co-coordinator of Chad’s Health Cluster, helping to monitor the quality of health services and avoid duplication of services. IMC was also a co-coordinator in Iraq since its inception in 2003 until 2019, co-leading the mental health and psychological support service (MHPSS) sub-cluster. A coordinated response among all health cluster partners is essential to delivering quality services and programmes to meet the needs of the populations affected by COVID-19 and the other humanitarian emergencies.