Social Issue

Globally, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people’s jobs, livelihoods and the economy has been devastating, especially among the most vulnerable groups.

In India, millions of people do not have savings and live on daily income from their own small businesses or from wages as day labourers. The strict lockdown deprived them of their usual livelihoods and many people did not have the resources to meet basic needs. Measures taken to restrict the movement of people put at risk thousands of seasonal and salaried workers whose homes are hundreds, or sometimes thousands, of kilometres away.

With lockdown easing in June, the contagion curve skyrocketed across India. Andhra Pradesh, where the Vicente Ferrer Foundation operates, was among the states with the highest COVID-19 growth rate in the country, emerging as one of the new “hot spots” of the pandemic.

Our Response

Netri’s grant is a contribution to the Emergency Plan against Covid that the Vicente Ferrer Foundation launched at the beginning of the crisis in March 2020.

The Vicente Ferrer Foundation is acting on the frontline to prevent and fight against the virus and works with public administrations to jointly develop the necessary measures to contain it and implement urgent actions to alleviate its negative effects on the most vulnerable groups.

In the first months (April and May) the priority was to provide food and medicine during confinement. During April and May more than 10,000 cooked meals were distributed daily, three times a day, at 58 delivery points. Likewise, supply packages have been delivered to more than 8,000 migrant families, which include rice, lentils, oil, flour, chili powder, salt, laundry soap, and hand soap, among other essential products.

With the increase in cases in the country during the second half of the year, the hospitals and health teams of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation focused on fighting the pandemic. The Government of Andhra Pradesh declared Bathalapalli Hospital as a referral centre for COVID-19 patients.

Actions to support the spreading of the virus included the manufacture and distribution of hydroalcoholic gel, gloves, and masks among professionals who work on the frontline, such as doctors, health workers, police officers, as well as people working in small food stores.

In addition activities and campaigns were carried out in more than 3,000 villages to raise the awareness of the rural population about the prevention of contagion.

Expected Social Impact

Netri’s grant was made available for any priority of the Emergency Plan of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation. To provide an idea of the impact of this grant in numbers, 40,000 euros covers the cost of 86,957 food rations, or it can cover the cost of manufacturing and distributing over 110,000 masks.