Login with Facebook
Login with Google
India COVID Crisis: How We Can Help
Right now India is going through our most difficult moment in the pandemic thus far. Daily COVID-19 cases continue to set record highs, with hospitals filled to capacity and in need of urgent supplies to cope with the increasing number of patients.
Communities individuals and families are feeling the devastating impact, too. We need to come together to find out what we can do to ensure people get the information and support they need to keep their families and communities healthy and safe.
What’s Happening?
India’s Covid-19 surge is the deadliest in the world and hospitals are running out of oxygen. India recently surpassed the tragic milestone of 350,000+ new Covid-19 cases in a single day, the highest total recorded globally since the pandemic began.
Supplies Are Running Low
For the past 2-3 weeks, medical facilities have been running out of oxygen and ICU beds. Indian authorities are now even turning to convert train carriages into isolation wards. They are also facing a scarcity of critical drugs due to panic buying. Hospitals and crematoriums are running out of space and people are people being denied hospital beds and medications. There are people with severe symptoms of Covid-19 who are driving around to 12 hospitals a day just to be denied by every single one.
And it’s only getting worse. Reports of double and triple mutant strains of the virus, which may be driving India’s latest surge, have caused concerns that the situation will get worse.
Why Is This Happening?
Prime Minister Modi, removed many COVID regulations too early. There were about 5 million people in attendance at political rallies for Prime Minister Modi. Along with this, large religious festivals like Kumbh Mela also attracted big crowds. It is clear that there is a blatant lack of leadership and the situation is a huge humanitarian crisis and the medical infrastructure is buckling.
A global vaccine apartheid is unfolding and people’s lives must come before profit. What is vaccine apartheid? Vaccine apartheid is a discriminatory policy towards vaccine administration. This is when high-income countries, like the U.S., have bought up most vaccines, leaving little to none for poverty-stricken countries. This disproportionately affects underserved countries. This is why countries like India are not receiving as many vaccines as those in the U.S. and it is severely hurting their population.
Today we are witnesses to vaccine apartheid that is only serving the interests of powerful and profitable pharmaceutical corporations while costing us the quickest and least harmful route out of this crisis. When the government has failed to keep its citizens alive and when many are profiting from the pandemic by charging exorbitant prices for oxygen and medicines, you may think: “Why is it my responsibility to keep Indians alive?”
The reality is that we are all one – we are all human beings trying to get to the other side of the global pandemic. If you can’t see it or hear it, it doesn’t mean it’s not happening. What affects one of us affects us all – eventually. With at least 300,000 infections every day, this is a global problem.
How It Impacts The World
India needs our help. This outbreak is devastating alone for its own citizens, but this is also disastrous for the world. 92 developing countries rely on India for vaccines to protect their own people. That supply is being impacted due to this crisis.
Our hearts break for the millions left to fend for themselves and for the lives of their loved ones, for the healthcare workers, and for everyone doing their bit to hold things up. We’re anxious for the safety of our families, friends, and collaborators- like we’ve never been before. We are devastated as we see the world’s worst Covid crisis unfolding in India. But we need to more than send our thoughts and prayers. We need to act.
Ethnic Events believes in doing better together and the mass suffering and illness in India is a grave reminder of how much stronger and more impactful we are when we take action collectively. Indians are dying in record numbers (1 death every 5 minutes) due to Covid-19, and they need our help! Every contribution, big or small, makes a difference. So please, consider donating anything you can spare.
Help India breathe. And remember, no one is safe until we are all safe.
Donate
Ethnic Events – Covid-19 India Emergency Relief
Ethnic Event’s founder Dr. Nitha Fiona Nagubadi has organized a Covid Relief Fundraiser on Go Fund Me. Donations will be sent to Covid Relief Emergency Work being done through Rotary Club of Guntur in Andhra Pradesh. This fund is 100% for Covid Emergency Relief items that are “High in Need”. Donations will be going towards supplies that are in critical need such as Oximeters, Oxygen Cylinders, Sanitizer Machines, PPE Kits, Face Shields, and Beds! Click the link below for the Go Fund Me.
Other Places to Donate:
Give India
This organization has hubs where you can choose to donate money to vetted funds for the purchase of life-saving medical equipment, food for families dealing with hunger, or reusable sanitary pads for women.
https://covid.giveindia.org/oxygen/
Mission Oxygen
Mission Oxygen is helping to supply hospitals with oxygen cylinders and concentrators across India. What started as a self-funded mission is now a global effort championed by entrepreneurs, celebrities, and members of the public who are determined to support COVID relief.
https://www.ketto.org/fundraiser/mission-oxygen-helping-hospitals-to-save-lives
Feeding From Far
Feeding From Far is an initiative helping to provide rations and meals to folks who are unable to feed themselves due to poverty or isolation.
