As part of the ARISE consortium, we joined other partners in sharing our experience in offering services within the informal settlements during the COVD-19 pandemic. The webinar also presented the opportunity for learning how other organizations in different countries were coping with the pandemic. Dr. Lilian Otiso shared our response targeted to the vulnerable community in the informal settlements, where most of our sites are located.

Some of the initiatives we have undertaken since March include; Educating the community health workers, peer educators, and mentors on COVID-19, Sharing factual information on COVID-19 via bulk SMS to community members, calling out myths and misconceptions around the pandemic within the informal settlements and partnering with informal settlement dwellers and youth organisations in hosting online discussion to educate the communities on COVID-19.

All our sites within the informal settlements remain open to offer essential HIV prevention and treatment services from (8 am to 3 pm) due to the national curfew. Our hotline 1190 is operational for 14 hours every day (8 am to 10 pm) to offer information on the pandemic, tele-counseling and psycho-social support during this difficult period.

Other presentations made during the webinar were from Sierra Leone on COVID 19 In Freetown’s Informal Settlements: From Contesting Priorities and Vulnerabilities to resilience and India  The COVID crisis and its Management: Experiences of marginalised from India