The COVID-19 pandemic has far-reaching and serious consequences and continues to affect people, economies and health and education systems throughout the world.
The Novo Nordisk Foundation has therefore awarded grants for several international initiatives aimed at mitigating the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic among people living in poverty and other disadvantaged and marginalized population groups.
The Foundation has awarded grants for 15 projects in countries such as Uganda, Sudan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Colombia and Myanmar.
Several of the grants are for projects that directly focus on helping women.
These include a project in Myanmar, in which COVID-19 has presented major challenges to the health sector, one reason being the changes in priority-setting for healthcare personnel and the closing of outpatient services, including maternity clinics. In the project, the Maternity Foundation will disseminate knowledge and facilitate access to COVID-19 recommendations in connection with pregnancy and childbirth through digital health solutions such as the Safe Delivery app. The project will also support midwives and skilled birth attendants with training on how to prevent COVID-19 among pregnant women. The project is expected to directly benefit more than 15,000 pregnant women and children.
UNICEF Denmark, DanChurchAid and CARE Denmark have also received grants for projects to help women, including preventing violence against women, which unfortunately has increased in many countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Further, several grants are for projects focusing on preventing infection through hygiene and other initiatives. The Foundation has also awarded grants for projects with an overall focus on strengthening the health sector and education.
“The COVID-19 crisis has created massive challenges throughout the world and especially in some of the world’s poorest countries, which are particularly vulnerable to the pressures that the spread of COVID-19 has put on both the healthcare system and society as a whole. With these grants, we want to take international responsibility and contribute to helping disadvantaged groups through the crisis and strengthen the countries’ preparedness,” says Hanna Line Jakobsen, Senior Vice President, Social & Humanitarian, Novo Nordisk Foundation.
The Foundation has awarded DKK 14.4 million for 15 projects, with each project allocated up to DKK 1 million.
The grants have been awarded through the Novo Nordisk Foundation programme COVID-19: Preparedness, Prevention, Response and Recovery.
The 15 grant recipients and their projects
International Aid Services Denmark
Project title: COVID-19 Intervention in 4 Villages in Guéra Region, Chad
Oxfam IBIS
Project title: Reduce the Spread and Mitigate the Consequences of COVID-19 by Strengthening the Resilience and Protection of Vulnerable Persons in Burkina Faso
World Diabetes Foundation
Project title: Ensuring Provision of NCD Services in Time of COVID-19 – Mozambique
Maternity Foundation (two grants)
Project title: Building Preparedness Capacity for Safe Deliveries During the COVID-19 Pandemic with mHealth Solutions in Myanmar in Collaboration with Danish Red Cross and Myanmar Red Cross Society
Project title: Strengthening the Prevention and Management of COVID-19 and Provision of Quality Maternal and Child Health Care in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Danish People’s Aid
Project title: Prevention of COVID-19 for Refugees in Uganda
Human Rights Watch
Project title: Building Education Back Better in a Post-pandemic World
Danish Refugee Council (DRC)
Project title: Preventing Negative Impact of COVID-19 in Burundi among Returnees, Internally Displaced People and the Vulnerable Host Population
School Life in Nepal
Project title: Mitigating COVID-19-related Starvation and Nutrition Deficit of 500 Poor and Vulnerable Families through Thriving Gardens and Peer-to-peer Learning, Nepal
Engineers without Borders
Project title: Masks for Africa: COVID-19 Cloth Masks for Africa: Protecting Vulnerable Communities and Clinically Assessing the Impact by EWB-DK and SDU, Guinea-Bissau
ADRA Denmark
Project title: COVID-19 Emergency Food Response (CEFR), Yemen
UNICEF Denmark
Project title: Safeguarding Access to Quality Education for Migrant and Host Community Children in Norte de Santander, Colombia, in the Face of COVID-19
DanChurchAid
Project title: Response and Recovery to COVID-19 Impact for Vulnerable Women & Families in Northern Shan State (RRVF-NSS), Myanmar
Red Cross
Project title: Life-saving Support to Communities Affected by Floods in the Time of COVID-19 Epidemic in Sudan
Care Danmark
Project title: Safety and Security of Women & Girls from Gender-based Violence and COVID-19 Risk, Bangladesh
Further information
Christian Mostrup, Senior Programme Lead, +45 3067 4805, [email protected]
