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How Medecins du Monde is responding to COVID-19 in Iraq and why urgent support is needed

Iraq is a very fragile country facing multiple political, economic, social and security challenges after the ISIS crisis. Since October 2019, the political situation has been unstable, with massive civilian protests and a gap in governance at the national level. ISIS has sleeping cells in the country, and there has been a significant increase in IS reported incidents against civilians and Iraqi security forces in April 2020.This situation has been complicated further by the arrival of COVID-19.

Interview with Dan Collison: Why local actors and fast decision making are key to effective humanitarian action

Dan’s commitment to working with local actors first started when he worked for Christian Aid back in the nineties, and he has always been keen to see localisation in the Start Network agenda. Dan is now leaving War Child to take up the position of CEO at Farm Africa, but we were able to chat with him one last time about the need for system change in the humanitarian sector and how the Start Network is attempting to do this.

COVID-19: What can we learn from previous lessons in responding to disease outbreaks in low-income countries?

Across the world, we have seen a consistent rise of disease outbreaks in the past decade and Start Fund has been instrumental in responding to many of them, including Cholera, Dengue fever, Ebola, and Lassa fever. Using project data from 12 activated Start Fund alerts and post-project learning exchanges from 2018 and 2019, we’ve developed four disease-specific learning papers and seven key lessons for COVID-19.

The Domino Effect: Acting in advance of crises

We have helped to mitigate the damage of impending disasters and, in some cases, managed to stop crises from forming altogether as a result of well-timed, pre-emptive action. Through these experiences, we have built a strong body of evidence that points to the value of early interventions to save time, money, and lives.

Start Network launches COVID-19 fund

Start Network has launched a new COVID-19 aid fund to anticipate and respond to critical virus-related humanitarian needs in low-income countries. The fund is being kickstarted with a donation from IKEA Foundation for €1.5M, other donors are being sought.