Recently with funding from the Central Asia Institute (CAI) TACT implemented protect vulnerable women and children during COVID-19 pandemic in remote and hard to reach areas of targeted Nuristan and Khost provinces of Afghanistan. TACT already have deep-rooted experience in raising awareness to prevent the spread of COVID-19 with a greater focus on mask wearing, hand hygiene, confinement and social distancing. Knowing that information is vital in the fight against the coronavirus. One of the key ways in which TACT helps communities protect themselves against COVID-19 and its possible consequences e.g. GBV and mental health issues is by ensuring that they are furnished with the right information to help save lives. TACT is constantly producing adverts for radio and television and connecting up with people on social media, putting posters in villages and at strategic points in the cities, as well as distributing leaflets.
      In addition, TACT is sending staff into communities with megaphones so they can get across prevention messages directly to anyone and everyone who listen and to carry sanitizing hand gel, soaps, masks and gloves to distribute to vulnerable women. The need for more timely delivery of Personnel Protective Equipment (PPE) and hygiene kits as soon as possible for vulnerable women, children and IDPs if the second wave of COVID-19 is officially declared in Afghanistan, and in order to overcome this, it will be necessary for our future projects to encourage the active participation of local private sector in related activities. As the lives of the elderly are at greater risk from COVID-19, TACT is ensuring that prevention messages reach their homes and that the elderly have the means to prevent the spread of the virus. TACT is also planning to provide daily food rations to pregnant, lactating and elderly women to boost their immune systems and help them stay healthy.