Through CSP, USAID Is Helping Underserved Communities Adapt to the COVID-19 Pandemic

When 93-year-old Georges* came down with a high fever and a dry cough, home-based health care provider Mohamad Tarek el Jundi immediately recognized them as symptoms of COVID-19. The pandemic was still in its earlier phases in Lebanon, and Georges had been assigned as Mohamad Tarek’s patient after seeking care from the firm Home Care Lebanon to avoid going to a crowded hospital for a check-up.

Mohamed Tarek had recently taken part in two training workshops held by USAID’s Community Support Program (CSP) to help Lebanese home care providers respond to a spike in demand following the COVID-19 outbreak. The first training provided a refresher course on the essentials of effective home care, while the second served as a crash course
on how to safely detect and treat patients with COVID-19. CSP also procured personal protective equipment such as gowns, masks, and sanitizing equipment for home-based health care providers under its workforce development component.

Upon Mohamad Tarek’s recommendation, Georges took a PCR test. The result was positive. In the weeks that followed, Mohamad Tarek decided to isolate with Georges in case he
needed any urgent care that Lebanon’s overburdened hospital system couldn’t provide. Eventually Mohamad Tarek also tested positive for the virus. In coordination with a specialized doctor, and after two weeks of quarantining, monitoring symptoms, and  following the treatment practices laid out in the training, Mohamad Tarek and his patient recovered.

“I learned so many new techniques to detect and treat COVID19. Lebanon’s home care field would do well to have access to other, similar trainings. Thanks to CSP, I might have saved a man’s life,” Mohamad Tarek says. As a result of USAID’s assistance, Mohamad Tarek and 11 other home healthcare workers from three CSP partner firms are able to safely provide medical care to more than 300 patients in Lebanon amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

This activity is part of a larger initiative to provide a broad range of support
to underserved communities to improve the delivery of essential
services and enhance economic opportunities, primarily in
Lebanon’s North, South, and Beqaa regions.