Provision of essential MHPSS and emergency health services in response to the COVID-19 in selected priority districts Through the AHF 3rd Reserve Allocation 2020, HNI-TPO will provide essential emergency health services in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, consisting of risk communication and Mental Health and Psych-Social Support (MHPSS) services in Kabul, Nangarhar, Ghor, Farah and Nimroz provinces, and will establish and operate isolation wards in two urban District Hospitals (DHs) in Kabul city. The target areas were selected in view of the priorities identified by Health Cluster based on the current concentration of COVID-19, and the current geographic presence of HNI-TPO. The project will be specifically addressing the needs of COVID-19-affected persons and will be implemented in coordination with other stakeholders and projects in the target provinces to avoid duplication and operational conflict. As the COVID-19 is mostly concentrated in urban areas of the five provinces, the envisaged set of activities will be expanded to rural areas of the target provinces when needed.

The project activities will consist of the following approaches.
1. Establishment and operation of 11 COVID-19 Outreach Teams (3 in Kabul, 2 in Nangarhar, 2 in Ghor, 2 in Farah, and 2 in Nimroz)  which will provide Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) activities as recommended by the RCCE Working Group, and targeted MHPSS services to COVID-19 patients and those who are at high risk (family members of patients, elderly and women).
2. Establishment and operation of one Isolation Ward in each of Rahman Mina DH and Tanikot DH in Kabul city, each with the capacity of 5 beds.. Owing to the lack of required services through urban health facilities in Kabul city, the PPHD has highlighted the need for treatment of critically-ill COVID-19 patients through isolation ward services in eastern part of the city. The services will be based on the recommendations of MoPH and WHO.
3. Provision of protective gear to the urban public health facilities in Kabul city, as there is no or little focus to these health facilities in the government response according to the Kabul PPHD.
4. Provision of MHPSS through 17 urban health facilities in Kabul city. Among the 36 CHCs, only 9 of them have Psycho-Social Counselor (PSC) in their staffing structure. Through another project of HNI-TPO in the past, 36 PSCs were trained for Kabul city but only 9 of them were deployed. Based on the recommendation of Kabul PPHD, 17 urban health facilities  will be staffed with the already-trained PSCs to provided targeted MHPSS services to COVID-19-affected people.
5. Provision of RCCE services through local radio and TV in the five provinces, and the establishment of Facebook information page within PPHD office in the target provinces. The choice of using radio or TV in the provinces will depends on which channel is more effective in view of the availability of COVID-19 RCCE broadcast by other stakeholders, and which communication has been chosen by beneficiaries in the REACH mapping. Based on the REACH mapping, radio will be a preferable communication channel in Nangarhar, while both radio and TV will be considered in Ghor, Farah and Nimroz. There will be no radio/TV activity in Kabul.

The project will be implemented through a dedicated team in coordination with PPHDs and the Health Cluster. The established standards and guidelines of MoPH and WHO will be considered as the basis of RCCE and COVID-19 response services. Supervision and monitoring will be integral part of the project activities which will be carried out through the existing setup of HNI-TPO in the five provinces under the oversight of the MampE department of the organization.

Special attention will be given to the particular needs of women and elderly as these two have been identified at-risk groups in the context of COVID-19 in Afghanistan. The project strategies and activities are geared to the needs of the two groups.