Global Refugee Fund

Thousands of refugees continue to arrive in Greece every month! 

Today, IsraAID's mobile medical team is the only unit operating on the north shores of Lesbos island. Our volunteer doctors and nurses provide emergency medical care to refugees following their incredibly arduous journeys.

Since just mid-August 2017, over 16,000 refugees and migrants, 40% of which are children, arrived on the Greek island of Lesbos seeking passage into Western Europe. This total, is more than double the number of new arrivals for the same period in 2016.

Today, there is a total of approximately 10,000 refugees living in Lesbos. However, the number is growing on a weekly basis and with the onset of winter it is expected to continue increasing.

In 2015 and early 2016, many international aid organizations were stationed on the island to receive and provide aid to the new refugees. However, after mid-2016 many left Lesbos as the number of arrivals gradually began to reduce. Since then, IsraAID has been a key part of UNHCR's central response plan, providing urgent medical care to the refugees arriving on the northern shoreline.

IsraAID has so far provided direct medical assistance to over 300 newly arrived refugees!

Emergency response:
The emergency medical team includes one doctor and two nurses, and is on-call 24/7. When a boat is spotted by local police or other bodies, the team is immediately alerted. They meet the new arrivals on the shore, do an immediate triage to assess urgent needs, and then, depending on urgency, take the patients needing care to either our local clinic or our medical tent in the transit camp. 

The refugees' conditions are varied but typically include shock and hypothermia. In addition, there are multiple heavily pregnant woman arriving, as well as refugees with chronic diseases such as cardiac conditions and diabetes. Most refugees are fleeing dangerous conditions and often are not able to transport with them urgent or even their regular medications.

This month, a five-year-old boy who needs regular dialysis arrived on a boat. Our doctor quickly identified the issue, and he was referred and transported immediately to the main hospital in Athens. In cases where the boats arrive undetected by police, there are often injuries from the rocks associated with trying to land the boat as well as distress and panic.

Ongoing medical response:
In addition, the medical team staffs the local clinic in the port area six days a week, Monday to Saturday. The clinic is attended by local host community members during the day time, and mostly refugees and NGO workers at night. The IsraAID team also provides regular First Aid training to all the volunteers on Lesbos.

IsraAID remains at the forefront of the response to the Global Refugee crisis, responding to the needs of East African and Middle Eastern refugees as they develop.

To date IsraAID has provided emergency aid, medical services, trauma care and training in affected countries including; South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Jordan, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Croatia, France and Germany.  Our teams have reached over 100,000 refugees, and trained national governments and local aid organi­zations as they struggle to cope with the mental and physical scars of the arrivals.

More updates to follow - thank you for you support!