We are all concerned and worried over the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our elderly and immuno-compromised friends and family, and on the capacity of our healthcare systems to cope and our health-care workers to stay safe.

Take those fears and imagine rural communities in South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania, where most clinics have no beds, no rooms for isolation, no ventilators, no personal protective equipment (PPE) or diagnostic equipment and very limited medical supplies. 

 Take that image and consider what the concept of 'vulnerable people' means in communities where poverty, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria and diarrhoel diseases are rife. Where whole families live in small one or two room homes.

The picture I am drawing in your mind is, in fact the reality, of having the most 'at risk' people in an environment least equipped to respond.

We need to act fast to equip these clinics, and support the extremely fearful nurses and Doctors working in them, to serve their community and protect themselves as best as they possibly can.

Any donation amount will go into the Africa Foundation COVID-19 response fund supporting 20 rural clinics in South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya.

Thank you. 

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