Objective
In order to ensure that adequate preparedness measures are put in place by humanitarian aid organizations to respond to potential confirmed cases (mild/moderate1 ) of COVID-19 in IDP camps in the conflict-affected governorates in Iraq, should the Ministry of Health’s capacity to manage cases in hospitals be overwhelmed due to a rising caseload, the Iraq Health Cluster jointly with the Shelter Cluster have drafted this document. It is intended to provide guidance to partners in the field so that they are able to quarantine/isolate confirmed cases within the premises of camps, utilizing available resources in the best - and especially fastest - manner. The document has been reviewed by the Strategic Advisory Group of the Health Cluster and CCCM, Protection, Food Security and WASH clusters and has been endorsed.
In line with the Iraq Country Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan Against COVID-19, the main aims of this document are to:
• Limit human-to-human transmission, including reducing secondary infections among close contacts and healthcare workers, preventing transmission amplification events, and preventing further spread from Iraq; • Identify, isolate, and care for patients early, including providing optimized care for infected patients; and referring them to higher level healthcare when required; • Communicate critical risk and event information to all communities, and counter misinformation; • Minimize social and economic impact through multisectoral partnerships.
This document is developed using technical input from the Interim Guidance on Scaling-up COVID-19 Outbreak in Readiness and Response Operations in Camps and Camp-like Settings2 and Key Considerations for Selecting Health Infrastructure for the Response to COVID 193 in addition to other technical guidance documents developed by WHO and referenced accordingly.
The existing capacity of partners (Health/WASH/CCCM/Food Security/Shelter and NFI) should be built upon in addressing the issue of establishing quarantine and isolation areasto manage travel/contact cases (for quarantine) or mild/moderate cases of COVID-19 (for isolation) that may present in IDP camps. Taking this into account, different stages are presented below, where one or more situations may fit individual camps in different governorates.
Based on the Health Scenario Planning document (Annex 1), quarantine areas shall be set up in IDP camps but already planned for a partial or full use as isolation facility, would the cases become overwhelming and health structures unable to cope. Principles of IPC (Infection Prevention and Control) would be the same for both use as quarantine and isolation facility of those areas. Hence, throughout the document, reference is made to Quarantine / Isolation (Q/I) areas.
The guidance intends to provide indication for an optimal establishment and management of Q/I areas. Nonetheless, land availability, site topography, resources availability, community acceptance, etc. may vary on a case by case basis and be less than recommended in the document. Hence, relevant partners shall seek advice from their respective clusters, to ensure alternative solutions are identified.