2. Corona-Aid

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The last few months have challenged the world community with in part existential tasks. We at ALTANA want to do our part to support people who are particularly affected by the coronavirus pandemic. We are therefore donating a total of 50,000 euros to projects in Bangladesh, Malawi, and Yemen.

Read more about the different initiatives here and decide with a click how you think our donations should be divided up between the individual projects. You are also welcome to support the aid organizations with your own contribution.

Bangladesh: Protection from disease and violence in the world’s largest refugee camp

In 2017, the world's largest refugee camp was built in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh. More than 850,000 Rohingya, who were driven out of Myanmar, seek protection and help here under extremely difficult hygienic and cramped conditions. The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the difficult humanitarian situation. The necessary isolation of people who have contracted COVID-19 is hardly possible in the camps.

The project aims to protect 65,000 particularly vulnerable people in five Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazaar from being infected with the coronavirus and other diseases; to improve their medical care, drinking water supply, hygiene, and nutrition; and to provide girls and women with lasting protection against violence, sexual abuse, and emerging human trafficking.

In Cox’s Bazaar, 40,000 people live in one square kilometer of space. Their domiciles are built in a mountainous, sandy area. Every year, monsoon rains cause devastating floods in the crowded settlements. Within a very short time, the ground turns into mud and mixes with sewage and feces. It is a devastating breeding ground for infectious diseases such as cholera and diphtheria.

The cramped conditions, the lack of testing and medical care facilities, and the shortage of simple things like soap and water give rise to rapid spread of COVID-19 and other diseases. At the same time, isolation has led to a shocking increase in violence against girls and women. 
The aid organization CARE is in Cox’s Bazaar.1,025 employees are doing everything they can to improve the humanitarian situation of Rohingya as quickly as possible.

Among the measures being taken in this project are:

  1. Distribution of hygiene packages with soap, disinfection, and protection material as well as water disinfectants to particularly needy families with sick persons
  2. Providing mobile health teams with clinical thermometers, blood and urine testing equipment, medical supplies and educational material, as well as training courses on COVID-19 prevention
  3. Providing existing health stations in Cox’s Bazaar with COVID-19 protection material, infection prevention protocols, and isolation tents for COVID-19 patients and suspected cases
  4. Construction of hand washing stations, latrines, and water tanks in underserved camp areas
  5. Construction and equipping of two new protection and counseling centers for girls and women
  6. Information campaigns on COVID-19 protective measures via radio, cartoons, and posters

Yemen: Protection from hunger and COVID-19 – disaster prevention and survival aid

Since the outbreak of civil war in 2015, the world's largest humanitarian crisis has developed in Yemen. 82 percent of the population, or 24 million people, are now dependent on survival aid. 10 million of them suffer acute hunger, most of them children. The health system had already collapsed before the pandemic. Now COVID-19 is spreading with devastating consequences.

The project aims to protect 400,000 particularly vulnerable people in Yemen from the coronavirus and other diseases and to improve their medical care, drinking water supply, hygiene, and nutrition on a sustainable basis. The aim is to reduce the extent of the disaster by providing care to as many people as possible.

In Yemen, more than three million people are fleeing from violence. Many live in overcrowded camps and makeshift tent cities. They are all defenseless in the face of ongoing fighting, hunger, water shortages, and the spread of diseases such as cholera, malaria, watery diarrhea, diphtheria, dengue fever, and now COVID-19.

The mobility of the fleeing population, the lack of testing and medical care facilities, and the shortage of simple things like soap, water, and evacuation space are causing an extremely rapid and not officially registrable spread of COVID-19.

The project of the aid organization CARE focuses on families that are on the run in regions particularly affected by cholera, COVID-19, and other diseases.

Among the measures being taken in this project are:

  1. Distribution of food and cash aid to bridge gaps, seed packages, and pregnant goats to families with chronically undernourished and malnourished children
  2. Distribution of hygiene and relief packages with soap, disinfectant, protection material, and water purification tablets to sick persons and particularly needy families
  3. Construction of hand-washing stations, latrines, and water tanks in underserved refugee camps including the establishment of supporting hygiene and water committees in the population
  4. Construction and equipping of a COVID-19 treatment center and a coronavirus isolation station; training and equipping of 160 hygiene advisors in the communities
  5. Repair of drinking water systems and sewers, and organization of waste disposal through community missions to eliminate disease outbreaks

Malawi: Safe schooling for children

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the government of Malawi in Southeast Africa declared a state of disaster in March 2020. As a result, all public and private schools were closed. The prerequisite for reopening them is a functioning hygiene concept. This is a challenge because many elementary schools in Malawi do not have access to clean water, and washing hands with soap is the exception rather than the rule.

The aim of this project is to enable around 3,000 pupils at five schools in the Lilongwe region to attend school safely through appropriate hygiene measures. In the long run, the hygiene measures will also serve to curtail the spread of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and diphtheria.

The project of the aid organization Habitat for Humanity pursues the following goals and measures:

  1. Access to safe water through well construction
    Well drilling ensures that five schools have access to water; sustainable use of these wells is promoted through maintenance training via the local water committees
  2. Provision of 25 hand washing facilities in the schools
    To ensure that water is used as efficiently as possible at the schools, a total of 25 hand washing facilities (five per school) are being built at various strategically important locations.
  3. Training of groups of mothers to make soap
    The structural changes in the schools are being supplemented by soap-making training for mothers, ensuring a sustainable supply of soap in the schools.

Donation Distribution

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