International aid organizations face challenging times due to coronavirus

International aid organizations face challenging times due to coronavirus

BRUSSELS: The coronavirus pandemic has affected the work of humanitarian and charity aid organizations globally but also provided them with new challenges to offer their services to the needy. “Pandemic has provided us with a fresh humanitarian challenge, but it has also affected our capacity to deliver the normal humanitarian responses that we were doing before the pandemic,” said Ed Blagden, head of supply operations in Oxfam international aid organization.

He was speaking to the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) at the international aid and development community exhibition, AIDEX, which was held in the Brussels Fair grounds recently. “The challenge for us is to deliver aid and service amidst the pandemic,” said Blagden. He noted that Oxfam has been playing an important role in countries like India by providing face masks, sanitary kits and oxygen concentrators. They are also engaged in humanitarian work in Yemen, Ethiopia and recently in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Secretary General of Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) of Turkey, Dumrus Aydin, said the Istanbul-based organization is engaged in humanitarian and emergency aid in 123 countries around over the world since 1992. It is one of the largest NGOs in Turkey and cooperates with UN agencies and international aid organizations as well as