#HelpingHands: An Initiative To Set-Up Child-Friendly COVID Centres And Run Vaccine Drives In Rural India

#HelpingHands

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Money Raised Will Be Used For

COVID Centres
- Setting up child-friendly COVID centres & COVID-specific paediatric units in preparation for the third wave
Vaccine Drives
- Starting vaccination drives in several districts of rural India, creating awareness and dispelling misinformation & rumours
Livelihood
- In the long term, providing livelihood support for those who have lost their jobs

Highlights Of The #HelpingHands Telethon: An Initiative To Set-Up COVID Centres For Children And Vaccinate People In Rural India

NDTV and ChildFund present India's Helping Hands, supported by WhatsApp, a campaign to set-up child-friendly COVID centres and run vaccination drives in vulnerable districts of rural India

Jun 13, 2021

19:36 (IST)

While the first wave was about supporting people, during the second wave, the focus was on saving lives: Neelam Makhijani, CEO & Country Director, ChildFund India

When the first wave hit there was a lot of uncertainty. ChildFund quickly responded to hunger and poverty. We did food basket, nutrition packages, community kitchen. We did a lot of work around nutrition and hygiene. At that time, the focus was on promoting hand hygiene. We had great donors like RB and UNICEF. After the first couple of months, we went into providing livelihood support. People lost job which pushed them into hunger. The first wave was about food, nutrition, hygiene and livelihood. It was about supporting people. But the second wave was very different. The focus during the second was about saving lives.

What we have done with Project HOPE is help 100 primary healthcare centres with medical equipment. In rural India, primary healthcare centres (PHCs) are the first support system. It all depends on PHCs but there is a big gap of medical supplies. Project HOPE supported us and in less than two months we have put healthcare infrastructure in 100 PHCs and saved lives of almost one crore people.

Best Moments

Actor Richa Chadha talks about COVID-19 third wave in India and what should authorities do to tackle it well

Neelam Makhijani, CEO & Country Director, ChildFund India at the #HelpingHands telethon talked about ChildFund's role during COVID-19 second wave in India

Chef Saransh Goila started a service Covid Meals For India where a WhatsApp chatbot number was used to help COVID-19 patients with home cooked meals

Dr Srinath Reddy, President, Public Health Foundation of India joined the #HelpingHands telethon and talked about the vaccine hesitancy in rural areas of India

Harsha Koda – CoFounder, Federation of OMR Resident Associations, Chennai at the Helping Hands Telethon talked about how RWAs used WhatsApp to coordinate relief efforts

Sonali Fabiani, Founder, @Altry_GiftsThatMatter, donated 9 lakh towards India's Helping Hands initiative

QUOTE UNQUOTE

The Healthcare system in rural areas is exposed and it shows that we haven't paid any attention to it.Richa ChadhaActor
First COVID-19 wave in India was about supporting people. The second wave was about saving lives.Neelam MakhijaniCEO & Country Director, ChildFund India
When you work for children, you not only invest in the present but future as well. That's a lesson from COVID-19 in India, that will be shared around the world.Tom CotterDirector of Emergency Response & Preparedness, Project HOPE
The need of the hour is to focus on rural areas and fight the misinformation around vaccines.Sonali FabianiFounder, @Altry_GiftsThatMatter
Lack of knowledge about vaccines and lack of trust in vaccines is resulting in vaccine hesitancy. But, we have to try to build the confidence of people on vaccines, increase their knowledge and help them in registration.Dr Srinath ReddyPresident, Public Health Foundation of India

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