The Community Based Actions and Testing (ComBAT) campaign was launched nationally on 7 August 2020, to determine the level of COVID19 infection within Ethiopia as well as understanding the current awareness on COVID-19 prevention measures among the population. The results are expected to inform the next stage of the government’s overall response strategy, including when to re-open schools. UNICEF has supported, both technically and financially, the production of five videos for children, youth and persons with disabilities about the campaign.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 response, UNICEF has provided a total of 2,056,120 people including 32,000 refugees and 2,370 returnees with critical Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) supplies and services.
As part of its COVID-19 nutrition response, UNICEF has supported 162,713 primary caregivers (of children 0-59 months) to receive Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) counselling. 20,298 of the caregivers were refugees. In addition, approximately, 40,000 children aged 6 to 59 months have been admitted for treatment of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), including 2,097 refugee children.