COVID in India and Bangladesh - an update

A letter from Traidcraft Exchange Chief Executive, Charlotte Timson regarding the India and Bangladesh COVID situation.

Dear Friends,

You will have seen on the news the devastating impact that COVID is having in India. Every day, we see more and more people struggling to get their families and friends to hospitals, to get access to oxygen. It is a desperate situation.

At Traidcraft Exchange, we are doing everything we can to keep our staff, partners and the communities we work with safe. There isn’t anyone who is unaffected. Everyone is doing what they can to help colleagues who are sick and whose families need urgent help.

I’m sad to say, that the situation is far worse than the official data being shared would have us believe. COVID is spreading into the rural areas. Villages that were isolated and protected from the virus last year are now being affected. And while the major cities might have been locked down, social distancing isn’t possible in these communities.

While Bangladesh has mostly stayed out of the news, this new wave has already started to spread. The situation there is getting worse by the day. Hospitals are overwhelmed in Dhaka and oxygen supplies are running out. Many of the communities we work with have little or no healthcare to rely on.

We are doing what we can to help in this emergency. We are ensuring people have correct information about COVID. We have been working hard to ensure marginalised populations are included in local government vaccinations programmes, where these have existed. And we are coordinating with others, to ensure that people know where to get help.

And beyond this immediate health crisis, there is the growing economic crisis. Homeworkers in India’s garment sector have no work. Migrant workers have had to travel once again back to their villages, without work or food. Small scale farmers who are harvesting their crops can’t sell them in the markets.

Thanks to the support that many of you gave last year to our Recovery Appeal, we’ve already been able to support some of the communities most affected. And we know that we will have a lot to do to help people survive and recover again. Once again, we are working closely with our partners to revise our plans and will share more with you in coming weeks.

But right now, I wanted to write to share something of how serious this situation is - and to reassure you that we are doing everything we can to support the people we work with in India and Bangladesh.

We will be in touch with more information as soon as we can.

Charlotte Timson

 Chief Executive, Traidcraft Exchange