As of Friday, May 15, Chad has 399 cases of COVID-19 with 83 recoveries and 46 deaths. Patient zero was identified on March 19, who had been travelling in the past weeks through two other African countries with COVID-19 reported cases.

Local strategies to disseminate information

Chad is a vast yet scarcely populated country where almost three quarters of the population live in rural areas, with limited or no access to radio, mobile or internet technologies. This poses a challenge as COVID-19 shows the importance of fast, effective local action, particularly information and communications, to slow the spread of the virus.

In the Chadian context, the administrative units and autonomous communities are subdivided into 23 provinces, 95 departments and 365 municipalities. The city of N'Djamena is a province with a special status and governed by specific legislation. The provinces are administered by governors and the departments by prefects. Only 42 municipalities are headed by elected mayors. The appointment of the mayor in all other municipalities remains the responsibility of the executive.

The Chadian government has adopted a very original approach in its awareness campaign, enlisting some 80 troubadours – a medieval French term for wandering singers and poets who focused on courtly love, or “love from afar” – to spread messages to remote areas in eight provinces to raise awareness of the dangers of COVID-19 and what measures need to be taken to stop the spread of the deadly disease. These traditional custodians of information typically travel from community to community on donkeys, horses or camels, sharing news in local languages. They are taking life-saving messages to remote communities in the Sahelian country deeply in the last mile.

In addition, more than 200,000 awareness posters have been placed in public buildings, markets, schools, and health centers in 16 provinces. They encourage people to regularly wash their hands, to greet each other from a distance, and to avoid touching their faces.

In urban settings, most people receive the information from television and radio. In N’Djamena, more than 60 journalists from state-owned, private and community media organizations have been trained since the onset of the health emergency on the importance of providing accurate and timely information. They have been guided on how to use reliable sources, the verification of facts, and the identification of fake news.

Other measures taken by the Government

Chadian authorities have adopted containment measures, including passenger flight suspension, closure of borders with Central African Republic and Sudan, quarantine for nationals returning from high risk countries, closure of shops and stores (excluding basic goods), shortened banking working hours, cancellation of events and gatherings of more than 50 people, closure of worship places as well as schools and universities. A curfew from 20h-5h has been instituted in the main provinces (Logone Oriental, Logone Occidental, Mayo-Kebbi East and West) and city of N'Djamena.

Additionally, wearing a face mask became mandatory in public places starting May 7. This follows distribution of free masks to the most vulnerable and at subsidized rates for the rest of the population as of May 2.

Under the leadership of the newly set up Health Monitoring and Safety Unit (Cellule de veille et de sécurité sanitaire) coordinated by the Minister Secretary of State at the Presidency, the Government finalized the National Contingency Plan for Preparedness and Response to the Epidemic of COVID-19 (Plan National de contingence pour la préparation et la riposte à l’épidémie de la maladie coronavirus COVID-19) and is seeking support from the UN and development partners.

Other government measures include: (i) training of medical and technical staff, (ii) purchase of necessary medical equipment, (iii) construction of seven health centers in remote areas, (iv) construction of three mobile hospitals, and (v) securely managing entry points.

Fiscal measures

In addition to these public health measures, authorities have decided on a package of fiscal measures to help households and businesses weather the storm.

Measures will also be taken to alleviate the hardship on households, including temporary suspension of payments of electricity and water bills for the lifeline consumption, the establishment of a Youth Entrepreneurship Fund (0.6 percent of non-oil GDP), a food distribution program (0.5 percent of non-oil GDP) which has already started with the help of UN agencies.

UNCDF’s guidance note on immediate responses to the COVID-19 recommended for local government finance is particularly relevant in the Chadian context. The fourth edition includes an expanded section on Operational Expenditure Block Grants to accelerate the local COVID-19 emergency response: Guidance note on COVID-19 and Local Government Finance issued by UNCDF.

Blog entry written by Amadou Sy (amadou.sy@uncdf.org) and edited by Nan Zhang (nan.zhang@uncdf.org).