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The COVID-19 outbreak and Support Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities

On Wednesday 11th March, the World Health Organisation officially characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic, meaning that the disease has spread around the world beyond the expectations of health experts.

Across the world, like many other sectors, social service providers are taking incredible measures to effectively deal with prevention, support and containment of the COVD-19 outbreak. These measures are even more important given the nature of social service provision, which is to provide care, support and health services to people who can be far more at risk to COVID-19 than the general population, including persons with disabilities.

Via this webpage, EASPD will communicate the most up-to-date and reliable information that is relevant for the sector as they work to protect staff and users while providing vital support services to persons with disabilities.

 

Resources on the Vaccination Process

Easy to read materials

Action at a European Level

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the European Union is coordinating a common European response to the outbreak of COVID-19. This response aims to reinforce Member State public health sectors and mitigate the socio-economic impact in the European Union.

To date, measures include:

The European Commission has recently written a letter (07.2020) to EASPD (and our partners) to outline the upcoming measures they are planning for social services in the months to come.
 

The EU is also working on coordinating actions, expertise and know-how to avoid uncoordinated/contradictory responses. This includes the creation of an advisory panel on COVID-19  to anticipate events and draft guidelines and regular contact between different Member State ministries, including employment and social affairs ministers. 

To find out more, read EASPD’s briefing note on European Response to COVID-19 Outbreak here (updated 20.04.2020) Read it here in French, German, Spanish, Italian and Greek.

 

EASPD Action:

EASPD recommendations to European Union

The spread of COVID-19 will create major challenges for social service provision in several ways. With this in mind EASPD and the European Aging Network (EAN) have written an open letter to European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, to highlight that the provision of essential social care and support services to millions of older persons, persons with disabilities, children and other vulnerable persons in Europe is under threat following the spread of COVID-19.

In addition to this letter, EASPD has identified a number of priorities the EU should consider in response to COVID-19 regarding the threat to Social Service provision.

To read the full letter in English, click here, French, German, Spanish, Greek and Italian

To read our priorities for the EU in English, click here. French, German, Spanish, Italian and Greek

 
EASPD Facebook page

To support its members at this time, EASPD has created this closed Facebook Group, in which you can:

  • Raise your concerns as service providers
  • Share the measures that you are implementing to ensure the safety of your staff and users while continuing to provide services to those in need of support.
  • Access Easy to Read materials which can be used by you to inform you users of the basic preventative measures that they can take to protect themselves from the virus.

To join the group, click here.
 

EASPD Help Desk

Now more than ever, European cooperation is needed to exchange with your peers, to seek new solutions, to request help and support in your lobbying activities, to raise concerns which may impact others later and to ensure that the European Union machinery is supportive of your activities. EASPD has launched a COVID-19 HELP DESK to provide additional support to our members during the pandemic. Get in touch with us at covidhelpdesk@easpd.eu

Find out more here in English,  Español, Deutsch, Français, Ελληνικά, Italiano, Nederlands, Polski, Português, Română

 

Webinars:

 

EASPD webinars

Each week EASPD will hold a webinar, which will bring together experts and support services providers to discuss the key issues affecting the sector during the COVID-19 outbreak

Webinars by members/partners
 

EASPD Press Releases:

Additional Materials

EASPD Research
  • Impact of Covid-19 on social services for persons with disabilities across Europe (April 2020); 1st Snapshot Report
  • Impact of Covid-19 on social services for persons with disabilities across Europe (October 2020); 2nd Snapshot Report
Research by other members/partners
General COVID-19 Guidance for the sector

Briefing notes

Easy to read materials