Additional financing for the Chad COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Project

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The objective of both the parent project and this AF is to prevent, detect and respond to the threat posed by COVID-19 and strengthen national systems for public health preparedness in Chad. The parent project has 3 components: (1) Emergency COVID-19 Preparedness and Response, (2) Community Engagement and Social and Behavior Change Communication, and (3) Implementation Management, Monitoring and Evaluation, and Coordination. The changes proposed for the AF entail expanding the scope of activities in the parent project, the Chad Covid-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Project (P173894) and adjusting its overall design. The overall design will be adjusted to increase its scope and cost that will be required to finance (i) vaccine and drug purchase; (ii) upgrading the cold chain for the vaccines; (iii) strengthening service delivery to ensure effective vaccine deployment; and (iv) monitoring, tracking of vaccines use and recording of any adverse reactions to vaccination. Additional financing is also required for sustained communications, which is essential to sustain throughout the vaccine roll-out.The proposed AF will not entail changes to the project’s structure, but additional activities (and funds) will be added to each project component of the parent project. Under Component 1, an additional subcomponent will be added to capture interventions linked to the purchase of vaccines and related consumables, as well as their distribution. This new subcomponent will also include technical assistance to the strategic planning of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign and support for pharmacovigilance. These activities represent 92.5 percent of the additional funds (US$ 18.5 million). Component 2 will be expanded to include communication campaigns linked to vaccine hesitancy costed at US$1.1 million. Finally, the proposed AF includes activities linked to the M&E of vaccine deployment under Component 3 for which US$400,000 have been allocated. While the project will help strengthen the national capacity to respond to the COVID-19 emergency, the distribution of equipment and supplies and the training of staff will prioritize the seven provinces identified by the WHO as high-risk provinces. These provinces are those were there are points of entry to the country and include: N’Djamena, Lake Chad, Mayo Kebbi East, Mayo Kebbi West, Logone Oriental, Moyen-Chari and Ouaddai.