It's been more than a year since the COVID-19 outbreak started. Although there have been countless challenges, which were hard to resolve, we are enduring these testing times well together. Among those who have been tirelessly fighting COVID-19 – either on the frontlines or by wearing masks or staying at home – we would like to recognize and honour our UN Volunteers' tremendous efforts to address the challenges of the pandemic.

In times of health and sanitary crisis, laboratories are crucial in providing reliable data for emergency preparedness and response. In Zimbabwe, Ronald Timbe, UN Volunteer Medical Epidemiologist, is engaged through WHO in COVID-19 response surveillance activities led by the Ministry of Health and Child Care. He works on the development and revision of COVID-19 surveillance tools, including the production of situation reports.

While COVID-19 severely impacted the most vulnerable communities, its effects were also felt across UN programme countries, reversing many positive gains in sustainable development. To support countries and UN partners in their response to the pandemic, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme invested its resources to deploy UN Volunteers with partners, financed through its UNV Special Voluntary Fund.*

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased demand for remote work and data access. At the same time, countering stereotypes and misinformation has become necessary for the progress of the pandemic response efforts. However, in many countries, the information systems and architecture necessitated by remote environments have lagged behind. As a result, access to health information and healthcare has been complicated.

During 2020, the WHO Country Office in Kazakhstan initiated and conducted several missions in collaboration with Dr Joanna Zwetyenga (Denmark), Technical Expert on Laboratory issues, Biosecurity and Biosafety from the WHO Regional Office in Europe. The first mission concluded with Dr Zwetyenga developing an action plan to strengthen laboratory response to COVID-19, with recommendations to train national mentors to support the laboratory capacity of staff conducting testing for SARS-CoV-2.

For almost two years, I have been working with the UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji. I am part of the inclusive growth team, supporting entrepreneurship, small and micro businesses, livelihoods and innovation in Pacific Island countries and territories. Our unit is relatively small and dynamic, so although my assignment title is in communications and partnerships, I have been engaged in diverse initiatives, together with other team members. For example, I have coordinated entrepreneurship and innovation initiatives, which I implemented with a national UN Volunteer.

Under the World Health Organization (WHO)’s End Tuberculosis Strategy, countries around the world have set ambitious targets to reduce the number of TB cases and deaths, as well as catastrophic expenses due to TB, by the year 2035, with interim milestones set for 2020 and 2025. Even before the onset of COVID-19, we were running out of time, and now, because of the pandemic, the targets are in jeopardy.

I am currently serving as a national UN Volunteer in Liberia for the Spotlight Initiative. My role is to develop an outreach strategy and distribute awareness-raising materials for the Coronavirus pandemic, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health. We engage with community members and religious leaders to promote preventive measures for vulnerable community members, including women, girls and persons with disabilities.

Two weeks ago, Peruvians - with the exception of some heroes - were called to stay at home to prevent COVID-19 from spreading and reaching the most vulnerable populations. However, confinement does not imply standing idly by. This is well understood by many young people, who are willing to offer their unconditional help during these times which have already made their mark on the history books.

Giving clarity and certainty to UN Volunteers and their host agencies, is vital. UNV has put measures and guidelines in place to ensure duty of care for its currently serving 6,000 UN Volunteers who are deployed with over 50 UN entity partners worldwide.