The World Health Organization (WHO) highlights an Observatory on Latin America (OLA) research study on Villa 20 and COVID-19

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The World Health Organization (WHO) highlights an Observatory on Latin America (OLA) research study on Villa 20 and COVID-19

On October 29, to commemorate World Cities Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) presented summaries of 15 cases of city responses around the world worthy of global attention. One of these cases was the case of Villa 20 in Buenos Aires, a slum community of about 30,000 people which has been in a process of infrastructure and housing upgrading since 2016. The summary included some of the main findings from a research study carried out by the Observatory on Latin America of the New School in collaboration with the City Housing Institute (IVC) of Buenos Aires. The WHO summary can be found here.

The case study emphasizes the benefits of efforts of the IVC together with local grassroots organizations which strengthened the capacity of the community to respond to the risks of COVID-19. Under the authority of the Ministry of Social Development and Housing and the Ministry of Health of the City Government of Buenos Aires, IVC  worked with neighborhood organizations to meet the community’s food, health, and social-economic needs and assisted in the implementation of prevention and detection measures through the DetectAR program, funded by the national Ministry of Health.

See here an Argentine press article