Help Americares Provide Aid for Ukraine

On the morning of February 24th, 2022, Russian forces launched a multi-pronged invasion by land, air, and sea on Ukraine. The brutal conflict continues unabated. Even as Ukrainian forces made ground gains in the first year, strikes by Russia against Ukraine on civilian targets exacerbated concern for humanitarian needs in winter.

Since the day of the invasion, 14.6 million people need humanitarian assistance and nearly 5.9 million refugees from Ukraine have been recorded across Europe. In Ukraine, 3.6 million people are internally displaced, and 6.9 million people are sheltering in place.

More than two years of war has caused widespread destruction, reducing some cities to rubble, damaging or destroying hundreds of thousands of homes along with critical infrastructure and leaving millions of people with limited or no access to electricity, water or heat. Many people are living either in collective centers or damaged buildings, without basic needs for daily life and vulnerable to a range of health threats.

Internally displaced persons living in collective centers are most at risk with the majority being women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.

Since the start of war, Americares has been working closely with local organizations to meet health needs. Many stories have emerged. Scroll down and meet some of the extraordinary people and organizations who have shared their stories.

People living in Ukraine face barriers to care: a shrinking health workforce (due to safety concerns and displacement), rising healthcare costs, declining or disappearing incomes and mass displacement. The WHO reports roughly one-third of people in active combat zones or Russian-controlled areas report they cannot access the medicines they need. Children and adults are going without vital vaccines, and people with chronic conditions – such as diabetes or dementia – have suffered dangerous interruptions in care.

In the two years since the start of the war, we have provided total aid valued at more than $121 million to 83 local organizations assisting those affected by the war. The aid includes grants and shipments of medicine and medical supplies, including those delivered by volunteer Medical Outreach teams.

To date, Americares has awarded 117 emergency grants valued at more than $5.3 million to 62 organizations working in Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine. The support helps local organizations meet a wide range of critical health needs from tourniquets and tactical trauma care for civilians in Ukraine to the delivery of essential oncological medicines to a Children’s Medical Center.

Americares partner network in Ukraine includes lean, community-rooted organizations that reach vulnerable populations who lack access to health facilities as well as large, highly specialized partners fully integrated into the national health system. This robust partner network allows Americares to meet needs across the health spectrum.

Two years into the full-scale invasion, Americares focuses its support on local organizations in Ukraine, providing them with medicine, medical and relief supplies, technical support and training, while mainstreaming protection work to reach populations most in need of humanitarian aid, including women, children and older people.

We are now focusing our response in three main areas:

• Medicine and support for health services
• Mental health and psychosocial support
• Strengthening the capacity and sustainability of Ukrainian organizations

These response areas overlap: When possible, Americares links mental health and psychosocial support with medicine security interventions. For example, Americares has acquired medicines and medical supplies for psychological boarding houses in central Ukraine, offered grant support to acquire generators for mental health facilities as part of the winterization strategy and provided grant funds for the purchase of specialty medicines for a psychiatric care health facility.

Links:

• https://www.americares.org/emergency-program/war-in-ukraine/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOi4yDeZagU&t=16s

Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022, Americares has been actively responding to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and neighboring countries. The organization has provided over $121 million in total aid to 83 local organizations aiding war-affected individuals. Americares has managed to deliver 194 shipments to 36 partners, valued at $115 million, in a strategic effort to supplement its effort with essential medicines and medical supplies that are either scarce in the local markets or too costly for partner organizations to afford. Additionally, Americares Medical Outreach Program—which supports volunteer medical trips with medicines, supplies, and educational resources—has been pivotal, organizing 30 missions in Romania, Poland, and Ukraine, valued at approximately $4.4 million.  

To date, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) technical assistance has reached more than 350 frontline workers with trainings and other targeted resources on a variety of mental health topics. Americares financial support to partner organizations has additionally facilitated the implementation of critical MHPSS services such as individual consultations, support groups, psychoeducational campaigns, and safe spaces. From July 2023 - June 2024, we estimate thatthese programs have supported the wellbeing of close to 9,500 individuals affected by the war in Ukraine.  

Americares also provided financial and technical support to local partners so that they could continue to deliver services. We provided Ukrainian health-focused NGOs ongoing mentorship on project design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. For example, in September 2023, the Americares Ukraine Response Partner Summit brought together 20 priority partners in Lviv, Ukraine to discuss best practices and build internal networks amongst Ukrainian non-profits. In December 2023, we partnered with the local NGO Divchatato carry out a capacity building project for five smaller Ukrainian organizations in our partner network by providing tailored weekly sessions on fundraising, strategic planning, policy development, operational support, and monitoring and evaluation so that our partners could strengthen their ability to implement programs that improve the health and wellbeing of Ukrainians on an ongoing basis.  

Links:

• Ukraine AAB Video

• Ukraine_Response_TwoYear_Anniversary_Report.pdf (PDF)