In Rwanda the median age of the population is just 20 years old and that is why at World Jewish Relief, we see youth leadership within the country as central to the successful fight against Covid-19.

On 4th August 2020 a series of devastating explosions at the Beirut Port destroyed most of the facility and flattened surrounding neighbourhoods, damaging buildings up to 20 kilometres away and leaving at least 178 dead and more than 6,000 injured. The impact of the explosions heightens Lebanon’s already critical situation, as it faces a severe financial crisis on top of the Covid-19 pandemic.

World Jewish Relief has been working in Belarus since the early 1990's, providing key services to the impoverished Jewish population. As events in the country dominate global news headlines, we outline some background on life for older Jewish people and the ways we are helping them.

Following the catastrophic explosion in Beirut last week, it has become increasingly clear that the humanitarian consequences of the disaster are immense. The pain and trauma that residents of Beirut have experienced is unimaginable. As British Jewry's humanitarian aid organisation, World Jewish Relief, supported by the leading UK Jewish communal agencies, are compelled to act and have today launched an emergency appeal to provide immediate assistance to those affected.

More than 100 people have been killed and more than 4,000 have been injured. A further 100 are reportedly still missing. The number of children affected is still to be confirmed. These numbers are all expected to rise.

In most of the nations that World Jewish Relief work with in Eastern Europe, the outlook of the impacts of Covid-19 can be quite good, for example Ukraine has recorded 1,693 deaths and this is significantly less than a good deal of nations in Western Europe*. However, the price these nations have paid economically is significant.

Social distancing is near impossible, access to water and sanitation is extremely limited and lockdown is preventing the ability to work, leading to an inability to purchase food. To tackle Covid-19, World Jewish Relief is working with local partner ISDE Bangladesh to distribute food, water, soap and PPE as well as run an awareness campaign.

We are providing urgent aid to families and individuals who have been displaced as a result of conflict in the Cabo Delgado region of Mozambique.
Partnering with ADPP Mozambique and joining forces with Action Aid Mozambique, we have received £280,000 from the START Fund to deliver this humanitarian intervention.