Event

Webinar People at the Frontlines: the Gift of Life

On 5 November, the World Council of Churches will host a webinar, open to the public, highlighting the experience and reflections of people on the “frontlines” of caring for communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Image
Photo: Marcelo Schneider/WCC

Street workers in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Photo:

The webinar, third in a series offering COVID-19 perspectives, will include both firsthand and learned perspectives from a medical doctor, who is also a clergy and a COVID-19 survivor. A public sanitation worker and a humanitarian responder will also speak.

According to the World Health Organization, 14% of the one million people who have died of COVID-19 so far were healthcare workers. Adding in other categories of frontline and essential workers, that figure rises to more than 20%.

“Although they risk their lives—and at times their families—by showing up physically to their workplace to deliver essential services to the population, their needs are not a priority in many contexts,” said Joy Eva Bohol, WCC programme executive for Youth Engagement.

Often these frontline workers have limited access to personal protective equipment, even as they face growing discrimination due to their direct interaction with people who have COVID-19.

“The speakers will talk about their challenges prior and during the pandemic their key learnings, insights, and practices; and their message of hope for the churches today, as well as towards the post-pandemic—calling faith communities across the world on how we can learn to better respond to the crisis,” said Bohol.

Join the webinar at 3pm CET, 5 November