North East Regional Initiative: A Lasting Legacy

Face masks were made from locally sourced ankara print fabrics and designed according to World Health Organization (WHO) and Nigeria Centre for Disease

Control (NCDC) standards. PHOTO BY ANIEBIET BASSEY

RESPONDING TO COVID-19 What we heard was that people who go to Lagos or China will catch this sickness and anybody who touches them will die. We have been living in ignorance all this while.” β€” Hajiya Gambori, community member, Monguno LGA, Borno State

COVID-19, nor is it solely the economic fallout other nations have suffered. It’s the reversal of progress in the fight against violent extremist organizations β€” a loss of the freedoms gained and a return to a pervasive fear that has the potential to long outlast the coronavirus pandemic. NERI has worked tirelessly these last six years to teach resilience skills to Northeast Nigeria residents combating the insurgency. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, they expanded their skills to respond and prevent disease transmission. In March 2020, NERI quickly set out to #StoptheSpread. Understanding that locals are more open to receiving information from

NERI partnered with state governments in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa to educate the local population about the dangers of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, teaching them methods of preventing transmission of this deadly virus and how to follow avoidance protocols. While the virus knows no socioeconomic boundaries, it has been shown that those with fewer means and options are more likely to feel the effects of COVID-19, whether physical or economic. Reasons include less opportunity for self-isolation, smaller financial safety nets, poor access to health care and fear of leaving home to seek help. But it is not only sickness and death Northeast Nigerians fear from

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