MdM Consortium kick-starts the implementation of a project titled “To enhance access to comprehensive healthcare services for conflict-affected vulnerable populations, both host and internally displaced, in highly affected areas,” funded by DG ECHO.
Its aim is to ensure access to comprehensive primary healthcare services (including Mental Health and Psychosocial Support as well as Sexual and Reproductive Health, with special attention to Gender-Based Violence) for conflict-affected populations in highly affected areas.
The intervention is implemented in oblasts bordering the conflict line in the east (Kharkivska, Zaporizka, Donetsk, and Dnipro), in the south (Mykolaiv and Khersonska), and in the northeast (Sumy oblast).
MdM prioritize support to existing public health services in order to enhance their capacities and complement these with the direct provision of services, always in coordination with local and regional health infrastructures. The project is targeting the most vulnerable groups within both host and internally displaced populations (mainly elderly people isolated in rural areas, people with disabilities and/or restricted mobility, palliative patients, among others).
MdM Greece is working in coordination with MdM Spain and the other chapters under a joint strategy with a geographic separation of operational presence. With the proposed intervention, MdM Greece is empowered to sustain and scale up its humanitarian response in Sumy, a challenging and rather neglected area. More specifically, MdM-Greece will be able to redeploy its MMU, while it will also continue to “build back better” in Sumy, i.e. carry on with reconstruction work and its MHPSS intervention.
This new project is jointly designed with local health authorities and stakeholders in Sumy, thus incorporating their voices and views regarding urgent support as well as longer-term relief and targeted strengthening of the health system in Sumy oblast. Synergies with local healthcare facilities are factored into the project’s design, while complementarity is evident in the modus operandi of the MMU.
This collaborative intervention demonstrates that the joint efforts of the MdM network (Spain, France, Germany, and Greece) have a positive and long-lasting impact in responding to the high healthcare needs across most Ukrainian oblasts, particularly in frontline areas in the east, northeast, and south.
The project is being implemented with funding from ECHO and the cooperation of the national delegations of Médecins du Monde Spain, France, Germany, and Greece.