LocationsIran's support to national response
Support to the National Response to contain the impact of COVID-19
Situational Analysis
Iran is one of the most impacted countries by COVID-19 pandemic. Within the first 15 days of the first recorded case, the pandemic spread to all 31 provinces of the country. The country’s health system is under immense stress exacerbated by the sanctions. Lack of essential medical supplies and PPE has made it very hard for health institutions to control the spread and pandemic. At least 40 doctors and health workers have lost their lives. The impact has gone beyond the public health domain and has become a humanitarian and development crisis.
The country may lose up to 10 per cent of GDP in coming years rendering 500,000 people unemployed. The government is implementing a National Mobilization Plan for COVID-19. It has announced a $35 billion relief package for businesses and households for 3 months and include a moratorium on utility bills. The pandemic has severely impacted marginalized and vulnerable population including women headed households, poor, migrants, HIV affected population and other groups. Economically, groups affected comprise of 4.5 million households, of which 1 million are from unemployed and poor and 2.5 million are self-employed, semi-skilled, unskilled and temporary workers.
The UN system in Iran has developed the Crisis Preparedness and Response Plan (CPRP) to help mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the vulnerable population and communities. UNDP, as part of the CPRP, is leading the socio-economic response together with UNICEF.
Areas of intervention
Socio-economic impact and needs assessment
UNDP is finalizing a sub-national 'Rapid Socio-Economic Response’ initiative to support micro and small enterprises as well as livelihoods earning support to vulnerable households. Besides livelihoods recovery, the initiative will develop local production capacity for PPE. UNDP will provide technical support to the government for COVID-19 focused social protection system.
Inclusive and integrated Crisis Management and Response
The UN Technical Assistance Package (TAP), which is part of the UN Development Assistance Framework in Iran led by UNDP-UNICEF, is being re-focused around COVID early recovery support. The TAP will establish tools to assess the socio-economic impacts, help stabilize jobs and promote public communication on COVID-19.
Health System's and Procurement Support
UNDP is procuring PPE worth $66k for health facilities and Labs. It has allocated an additional $100k for providing PPE to the frontline health workers especially those working in HIV/AIDS and TB treatment facilities. An additional third-party funding is being mobilized for PPE. UNDP, together with WHO and UNICEF is also supporting the Government for the procurement of medicine/medical supplies to strengthen its health system.
Budget
| Areas of Intervention | Resources Required | Resources Available | Resource Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Socio-economic needs assessment and response | $286,000 | $286,000 | $0 |
| Health Systems Support | $ 1,366,000 | $ 166,000 | $ 1,200,000 |
| Total | $ 1,652,000 | $ 452,000 | $ 1,200,000 |