Giving Compass' Take:

• A video at Skoll depicts one organization's solution to provide people with critical COVID-19 information and advice through a hotline in Africa.

• Why is it essential to get safety information about COVID-19 to all parts of the world? How can we support other efforts--like this hotline--to assist marginalized countries in getting protection?

• Find resources to support coronavirus relief efforts all over the world.

At the end of June, the African continent had 400,000 COVID-19 cases, with local transmission increasing significantly. By the end of July, that case count had more than doubled. Health systems could quickly become overwhelmed, says VillageReach Vice President for Programs, Patrick Sikana. He outlined four principles that inform VillageReach’s COVID-19 response in a recent presentation to funders and other programmatic partners.

  • Put government at the center, ensuring solutions reflect both government priorities and bolster (rather than replace) existing systems.
  • Build on what we know works from our years of experience and solutions already in place.
  • Collaborate and communicate clearly about what your organization has to offer and how you can support others. What we do together will be more effective than what we do alone.
  • Respond to the present while designing for the future, building stronger systems for after the emergency.

VillageReach already had a solution with the power to fight COVID-19: Chipatala cha pa Foni (CCPF, or Health Center by Phone). CCPF was developed in Malawi with the Ministry of Health & Population and is now completely operated by the government with data support from VillageReach. VillageReach and Focusing Philanthropy’s COVID 411 campaign builds on that infrastructure to provide timely, accurate health information to millions of people. The Health Center by Phone technology is also being enhanced to deliver remote, phone-based training to more than 100,000 health workers in Malawi as well as in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Mozambique.

Watch the full video about the COVID-19 hotline in Africa at Skoll Foundation.