This Ramadan, in collaboration with Box of Kindness Omar & Hana, MERCY Malaysia initiated COVID-19 Ramadan Relief Response towards B40s, marginalized and at-risk-community’s livelihoods support. 

Through this Box of Kindness 2020 x MERCY Malaysia COVID-19 Ramadan Relief campaign, we aimed to provide basic food to the vulnerable communities throughout Malaysia.

We are living in an age of the greatest pandemic the world has seen for the last 100 years, the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a pandemic which we need to fight together, and for all that to happen we need all sections and sectors involved. As the country and the whole world is struggling with the fight against COVID-19, our front-line health workers are struggling to save lives while at the same time risking their own life.

With the daily arithmetic progression to 4346 confirmed cases and 70 deaths (as reported on 1 April 2020), the Malaysian Federal Government and the Ministry of Health (MOH) are focusing on mitigation measures in minimizing viral transmission through movement control order (MCO) and enhanced movement control order (EMCO). MOH’s Director General, Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said, MOH and the government are not discounting the possibility of a surge in new COVID-19 cases come mid-April 2020 onwards.

JP Morgan predicts Malaysia to see a peak of 6,300 cases come mid-April, while prediction by the Malaysia Institute of Economic Research is even higher, at 8,900 cases. Both reports cited several reasons for the predictions, also pointing out how numbers could have been worse if not for the proactive preventive measures being taken.

MOH is still conducting rapid identification of cases, contact tracing, testing of samples, isolation of confirmed and suspected cases, and mobilization of resources, in line with the preparedness and response guidance for a pandemic, working collaboratively with state and whole of government partners, including with non-governmental organizations like MERCY Malaysia.

MERCY Malaysia has produced and implementing its COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan to support the severely strained healthcare system. This comprehensive includes activities supporting medical services and essential needs of marginalized and at-risks community groups, as well as other key measures such as providing mental health and psychosocial support services, information and awareness communication, and pandemic risk reduction.

The COVID-19 outbreak also is impacting the livelihood of the underprivileged, and citizens from this group are finding it difficult to even put food on the table for their families. Sufficient financial and social assistance for vulnerable groups including B40 households, single parents, daily-wage earners, homeless persons, persons with mental disorders, foreign workers and refugees must be made available quickly as we have entered the fourth week of the MCO, and will be further extended until 28 April 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted economic activities, including supply chain networks and basic livelihood activities. The situation for the B40 category is exacerbated by the ongoing MCO and EMCO, which required the stop of all non-essential businesses. This subsequently meant a halt to their earnings and livelihood as many of them are day laborers who are paid only when they work.

With the holy month of Ramadan leaving soon, the need to put decent food on the table for families has become not only important but urgent. This project has a very simple objective – to end hunger.

The program is designed within the principle of ‘leave no one behind’. It is to ensure the appropriate distribution of essential food items to reduce the humanitarian burden of these groups.

Reduced poverty impacts (e.g. hunger, malnutrition, and other health issues) and cushion the negative impact of the MCO due to COVID-19 mitigation measures.