The coronavirus is spreading.
With a strong Centers for Disease Control, Transportation Safety Authority, and tens of thousands of hospitals and health centers on alert, there are resources in place that may help stop the spread of the new virus in the United States.
But what about in countries with under-developed health care systems? If the virus takes root where we work, it will only grow stronger.
Your compassionate support allows Lutheran World Relief to ready our teams in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, where health care systems are dangerously under-resourced, and lack the capacity and expertise to tackle a massive outbreak.
There, families may not have accurate information about the symptoms of the coronavirus or what to do if they have the symptoms. There, families often must walk miles and miles to get to a health center, even when they are weak from illness. And when they get to that health center, it may not be equipped to treat the coronavirus.
We’re using what we’ve learned from our life-saving response to the Ebola virus. We know what it takes to get the information, equipment and medicine into the right hands to stop the spread of this virus.
Train staff. Ebola has taught us how community health workers are the backbone of containing an epidemic. Your generosity will train local community members to work side-by-side with their neighbors to stop the spread of the virus.
Control rumors. One of the biggest obstacles in responding to the Ebola pandemic was the large amount of disinformation that spread quickly and widely that increased suspicion toward health care workers and led some to avoid detection and treatment, further spreading the disease. With your gifts, we will disseminate as much information as possible to the public about the nature of the virus and how we are treating it.
If the coronavirus takes hold where we work, we won’t be able to stop it.
Unless you act now. There is no time to waste.
In a world of need, you can do a world of good. Your gift to our World of Good emergency fund allows us to rush aid to crisis zones.
With you by our side, we won’t stop until your love reaches every neighbor.