ActionAid Malawi handed over Covid-19 Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to its partners under its Global Fund Covid-19 Response Mechanism (C19RM) project.
The PPEs, officially handed over in Lilongwe, are worth $1 million (K1 billion) and include bicycles, hand washing facilities, soap, reusable masks and sanitizers.
According to C19RM Program Manager, Dalitso Kuphanga, the project is supporting countries to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on programs to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria and initiates urgent improvements in health and community systems. 
ActionAid Malawi, the C19RM Sub Recipient, is leading the implementation of the non-biomedical response in conjunction with five Sub Sub Recipients, to which it handed over the PPEs. These work with the support of CSOs, coordinating bodies, district and community structures.
Kuphanga said the Ministry of Health, which is the C19RM Principal Recipient, subgranted ActionAid about $7.2 million (K7.2 billion), part of which the organization used to procure the PPEs.
“The PPEs will go a long way in supporting our volunteers working at community level in HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria interventions.
We will be working with our structures at community and district levels, which include Community Based Organizations, networks for TB, networks for people living with HIV/AIDS and volunteers. These also support the structures of the Ministry of Health and those belonging to the sub-recipients.
We will make sure that all these are part of the process of distribution of the PPEs so they are able to follow up if the equipment reaches the intended beneficiaries and are used for the intended purpose,” Kuphanga said.
According to Kuphanga, ActionAid Malawi is targeting various populations with the PPEs, including, among others: female sex workers and men having sex with men.
The five Sub Sub Recipients are: The creative Centre for Community Mobilization (CRECCOM), SRHR Africa (SAT), Family Planning Association of Malawi (FPAM), Malawi Network of People Living with HIV (MANET+) and the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM).
Country Director for SAT, Robert Phiri, commended ActionAid Malawi for the PPEs, saying they will help communities better respond to the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact it is having on the fight against other diseases.
“The PPEs are crucial. Communities need to have the actual equipment they can use for prevention,” Phiri said.
Manager for Global Fund and GAVI project implementation unit in the Ministry of Health, Doreen Sanje, said her office expects that the items will reach the intended beneficiaries and used for the intended purpose.
“We are grants managers for Global Fund and GAVI resources. The K7.2 billion we sub granted ActionAid is from the $109 million (K109 billion) which Malawi received in 2020 for the support of various Covid-19 interventions. We need to properly manage these resources in order to reach out to as many communities as possible,” Sanje said.
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