Health and Nutrition

Delivering quality healthcare in fragile settings requires a daily balancing act for both patients and providers. The communities Relief International serves are often surrounded by life-threatening events that result in physical and emotional wounds, and security makes it challenging to seek treatment. These populations are additionally burdened by chronic poverty and shortages of basic necessities such as food, clean water and safe sanitation – leaving them with little resilience to withstand poor health.

Our work ranges from providing life-saving care to people in vulnerable situations to rebuilding health systems so they can sustainably care for themselves. In war-ravaged countries, our mobile medical units provide care to communities completely cut off from services, and our hospitals in besieged cities treat mass injuries and offer trauma counseling. In areas facing drought, our healthcare facilities screen children for malnutrition and treat waterborne disease spread by lack of access to clean water sources.

When we’re not doing, we’re preparing – by building local capacity through vocational training for health workers, providing food and nutritional advice to families to prevent famine, stockpiling medicine to combat an impending disease outbreak, and scouting sites for the next hospital in the event we’re forced to move the existing one.

All of Relief International’s health and nutrition work is underpinned by protection measures. This means we ensure that groups facing highly vulnerable situations or with special needs have access and dignity in attaining the quality care they need to live healthy lives.