COVID-19 Response Plan

27 Mar 2020

Summary

The COVID-19 Response Plan for the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) presents the joint strategy of the humanitarian community, including UNRWA, to respond to the public health needs and immediate humanitarian consequences of the pandemic in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. It is guided by the Health Cluster’s Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan, published on 14 March 2020, which is designed to steer a coordinated effort in support of the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the overall efforts of the Government of Palestine (GoP). In this respect it will provide an important bridge between this largely partner and Health Cluster response and the broader socio-economic recovery plan of the GoP, with support from the World Bank and others. This plan seeks to mobilize support to implement the most urgent and critical activities over the next three months.

The primary focus of the plan continues to be prevention, preparedness and treatment of the the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Central to the plan are the following overall objectives:

To prevent further transmission of COVID-19 in the oPt;
To provide adequate care for patients affected by COVID-19 and to support their families and close contacts; and
To mitigate the worst effects of the pandemic.

This plan aligns the collective efforts of the UN and its partners to support the GoP’s lead in managing the impact of COVID-19. The approach is dynamic, enabling resources to be adapted to support the most effective public health and multi-sector interventions as more is learnt about the virus and the key risk groups, with emphasis remaining on supporting the most vulnerable people.
Overall, the Plan aims to support the scaling up of testing capacity to 20,000 COVID-19 tests,and expand hospital-bed capacity by 200 additional beds. Respiratory support and intensive care treatment capacity will also be scaled-up to support 100 additional beds. Additionally, the plan aims to target at least 1 million Palestinians with public health messages on preventive measures on how to effectively protect oneself from COVID-19 infection, and at least 5,000 health workers will be supported with infection prevention and control (IPC) measures, including with personal protective equipment (PPE). Further to the core health needs, the plan also includes other sectoral responses directly related to the COVID-19 response, which can be implemented within the next three-month period.
The overall requirement of US$ 34 million is an update of funding requirements previously shared with donors through the Health Cluster’s Inter-Agency COVID-19 Response Plan February 2020 plan shared on 14 March 2020. The situation in the oPt and resultant needs are changing by the day. The majority of these figures are valid as of 26 March 2020.

FUNDING REQUIREMENTS BY CLUSTER AND AREA
Cluster	Gaza	oPt	West Bank	Grand Total
Education	$50,000	$1,072,000	$10,000	$1,132,000
Food Security	$1,300,000	$3,000,000		$4,300,000
Health	$144,500	$19,082,381	$241,600	$19,468,481
Protection		$550,000		$550,000
Shelter	$2,300,000		$1,140,000	$3,440,000
WASH	$2,086,330	$570,282	$2,458,252	$5,114,864
Grand Total	$5,880,830	$24,274,663	$3,849,852	$34,005,345