Médecins du Monde supported 26,763 vulnerable people in Greece and abroad in the year with the largest record of humanitarian crises in the last decade
26,763 beneficiaries, 47,647 medical actions, 18 programmes in Greece and abroad, 4 Mobile Health Units to provide necessary medical services even in the most remote areas of the country. Doctors of the World in 2023, the year with the highest record of humanitarian crises in the last decade according to UNHCR, dedicated to their mission of universal health care and upholding fundamental human rights, were on the front line providing their assistance so as to contribute to the effective support of people in need.
A year of complex geopolitical developments, ongoing and new war fronts, major natural disasters and unprecedented weather phenomena, which created extraordinary humanitarian crises worldwide, with housing insecurity, loss of property and jobs, new waves of human displacement and outbreaks of infections threatening public health, Médecins du Monde has mobilized all its physical and human resources for the relief and treatment of human suffering.
Thousands of vulnerable women and children, refugees and migrants, unaccompanied minors and victims of violence, people without access to the National Health System received in 2023 necessary health, harm reduction and mediation services. The Polyclinics in Athens and Thessaloniki and the Gynaecology and Paediatric Clinic, which has been operating daily since 2011 within the Reception and Identification Centre in Lesvos, offered a holistic framework of support, while the 4 Mobile Health Units of the Organization provided similar services with weekly visits to the streets of Athens and Thessaloniki. At the same time, 21 missions were carried out in remote or underdeveloped areas of Greece with fully equipped medical units, giving priority to these vulnerable population groups.
At the same time, in the Organization’s housing programmes in the capital (Night Shelter for the Homeless and the Open Accommodation Center for Vulnerable Women “A Step Forward”), hundreds of people found shelter and an environment of protection and empowerment to enable them to become self-sufficient. In the very context of integration and inclusion, social groups that are marginalised or at risk of marginalisation, such as Roma, elderly people, LGBTQ+ migrant-refugee populations among others, were psychosocially supported through specially designed programmes.
Responding immediately to emergencies, Médecins du Monde in the summer that left 1,726. 260 burnt acres of forest land in the country, were at the frontlines of the wildfires of Attica – and not only – to care for our fire-affected fellow citizens, while with the outbreak of the storm “Daniel”, which submerged Thessaly under water, they rushed to the side of the flood victims for 9 consecutive months, offering medical, material and psychosocial support. At the same time as the emergency action in Greece, the Organization’s international humanitarian assistance was extended, in addition to its constant presence in Ukraine since 2022, to war-torn Gaza, as well as to Turkey and Syria affected by the deadly “twin earthquakes”.
In fulfilling its commitment to “Care for All”, in a year of significant challenges and multiple crisis fronts, Médecins du Monde was present and active Wherever People Are, thanks to the human chain of solidarity built with the contribution of allies, volunteers and staff of the Organization.