The COVID-19 outbreak threw the country into an unprecedented and enormous health and humanitarian crisis
The poorest and the most marginalised were disproportionately disadvantaged as the crisis continued through several waves.
The Azim Premji Foundation and Wipro jointly commenced efforts to support the civil society response and help in responding to the pandemic.
OUR REACH
Our comprehensive response to the pandemic was in the two inextricably tied dimensions of the crisis — healthcare and humanitarian.
This effort was anchored by members of our own organisation, partners, government schoolteachers that we work with, and alumni of the Azim Premji University.
With this network, backed by Wipro’s technical expertise and distribution reach, we were able to extend support across states to more than 83 lakh people for livelihood regeneration, food, dry rations and personal hygiene kits.
Click here to read a consolidated summary report for the period March 2020 – June 15, 2021.
Our integrated healthcare response was ramped up to focus on strengthening the frontline work, enhancing testing capacity and augmenting treatment facilities across select-regions. One of Wipro’s campuses in Pune was repurposed to make a 450-bed intermediary care COVID-19 hospital.
Stories From the Field
These stories capture the essence of our work in response to the COVID-19 crisis from across the Foundation — the Field, Grants, the University, and all our partners.
Chronicling Covid-19 in India-through the eyes, ears, and feelings of people on the ground. Click here for the series starting with Kalaburagi.
Read our Field Notes on JIDHAN – that organises a community-centric healthcare response in Jharkhand, or about Augmenting COVID Treatment Facilities and on Responding in a Metropolis. Or about Enhancing Testing Capacity, and frontline School Teachers, or the community-led response from Chachali village in Jharkhand; and COVID healthcare initiatives in other regions.
Also see The Dispatch and read about Mission Makunda – the transformation of a hospital in a far-flung corner of Assam, – and previous issues 5 (English), 5 (Kannada), 4, 3, 2 and 1
And here, are photo essays on the Integrated Health Care Response and Humanitarian Aid in Bengaluru, and the Humanitarian & Vaccination efforts in Anekal Taluk.
Resources You Can Use
Handbooks and checklists at community, panchayat and district levels for reopening schools, health care and humanitarian support.
Awareness material in Hindi and Kannada.
Research and Advocacy
During the COVID-19 related lockdown, 80 percent of workers in urban areas and 57 percent in rural areas lost their employment. Many parts of central India suffered from food and water insecurity. Only 20-50 percent of returned migrants had some form of income source. How can we rebuild rural communities and redesign cities? To read more …Click here
One of the Social Enterprise Idea Challenges hosted by Azim Premji University’s Social Enterprise cell, was on the ‘Response to COVID 19 crisis’. Congratulations to the winners!
