FHI 360 strengthens all levels of health systems to respond to COVID-19, from adapting global guidelines to country contexts to increasing access to medical oxygen in health facilities and training health care workers to provide high-quality critical care.
Oxygen ecosystem strengthening
As the COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented surges in the demand for medical oxygen at hospitals and care facilities around the world, with many low- and middle-income countries facing similar but unique challenges, FHI 360 provided guidance to governments on how to strengthen their oxygen ecosystems. Through a webinar and other online resources, the EpiC project provided guidance on improving access to and delivery of oxygen to patients, as well as guidance on the roles that officials, donors, clinicians and local communities can play in ensuring oxygen therapy for those who need it most.
FHI 360 works directly with national and subnational governments and facility leaders to improve access to medical oxygen through infrastructural improvements, procurement of medical oxygen and related commodities and consumables. We also work with governments to improve the delivery of clinical and nonclinical training to ensure proper use and maintenance of oxygen systems. FHI 360’s oxygen programs meet urgent needs during surges of COVID-19 cases and strengthens systems to ensure medical oxygen is available for all patients who may need it, including children with pneumonia and people with chronic lung conditions.
Clinical management of COVID-19 patients
The scope, pace and magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic created unique challenges for health care and other frontline workers. The pandemic required additional training, resources and support for already taxed health care systems that were reaching their breaking points. FHI 360 recognized the urgent need to strengthen clinical care and thus developed trainings and technical resources to support frontline workers in recognizing, preventing and treating critical COVID-19 cases.
Through the EpiC project, FHI 360 has facilitated a series of COVID-19 clinical updates for global practice webinars, with the most recent session discussing the importance of addressing COVID-19 across the continuum of care. The panel discussion highlighted the need for strong pathways among the community, the primary health care system and emergency/triage systems to connect patients infected with and affected by COVID-19 with the right care at the right time and avoid overloading already taxed health systems.
Mental health care for health care workers and patients
FHI 360 provides technical assistance to support the mental health, promote the resilience of and help prevent the burnout of frontline health care workers who have experienced unprecedented stressors during the pandemic. Our approaches include efforts to ensure adequate supportive supervision, counseling facilitation of peer support, scheduled leave policies and promotion of overall physical and mental well-being.
Maintaining essential health and social services
In addition to addressing the direct effects of COVID-19, FHI 360 provided significant support to mitigate the indirect consequences of the pandemic on other essential health and social services. FHI 360 supported the continuity of HIV and family planning services, as well as education and economic programs.
Essential and routine health services were severely disrupted during the pandemic. To mitigate these disruptions, FHI 360 developed guidance and rolled out programs at every level of the health system to ensure that essential HIV services were delivered to clients during the pandemic. When family planning resources were affected by pandemic-related challenges, FHI 360 cofounded a task force to adapt these programs in Malawi, Nepal, Niger and Uganda and created a longitudinal assessment of women’s experiences with unintended pregnancies.
FHI 360 amplified its efforts to ensure equal access to education in the face of school closures, including providing access to technology for remote learners and increasing sanitation projects so that children and teachers could safely return to their classrooms. From creating and distributing school workbooks, to launching radio programs of reading lessons to reach children in rural areas, to providing hygiene kits and renovated water fountains, FHI 360 strove to minimize the pandemic’s disruptions to learning.
