COVID-19 has already overwhelmed health systems in high-income countries. As it spreads to fragile and crisisaffected countries, it threatens even greater devastation. There is a small window left to mount a robust response while COVID-19 is still in the early stages of spreading to these settings. COVID-19 is a global threat requiring a global response, but the steps to contain it should be designed locally, particularly in the crisis settings where the International Rescue Committee (IRC) works, to avoid exacerbating humanitarian suffering.

For almost 90 years, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has been responding to the world’s worst humanitarian crises. When a new crisis strikes, the IRC’s emergency team swiftly activates to determine the most effective way to reach people in need.

Refugees in Moria, Greece are crammed together in conditions that make it impossible to self-isolate

Mojdeh is an Afghan asylum seeker who fled to Greece with her young daughter. They remain living in limbo waiting to rebuild their lives.

Evacuated to Europe during the change in power in 2021, Ozair was lucky to be evacuated from Afghanistan to Italy during the change in power in 2021, but he was devastated to leave his family behind.