Providing Relief to People Affected by the
War in Ukraine

The war in Ukraine continues to evolve rapidly. Waves of attacks have displaced civilians throughout the country and created millions of refugees. International Medical Corps, which has decades of experience in the country, is currently on the ground in Ukraine, worked in Poland for several years to help refugees, and had operations Romania and Moldova providing services to refugees during the initial months after the invasion. Our staff in Ukraine is providing a wide range of context-sensitive humanitarian relief, including critical medical and social services, under increasingly difficult and dangerous conditions.

Here is an overview of the services we’ve been providing in Ukraine since 2014, and how our teams are expanding relief services as needed. For additional information about our response, please see the situation reports in the Resources section of this page.

Medical Care

Before the war, we worked closely with local partners to operate mobile medical teams providing healthcare services—including specialties such as a gynecology and cardiology, as well as prescription medication—to villages around Mariupol, near the original line of contact in the eastern conflict. With war now raging throughout the country, we have moved hundreds of tons of critical medicines, supplies and equipment to overwhelmed healthcare facilities to serve millions of people, and will continue supplying hospitals as needed.

Across the country, International Medical Corps has identified different needs based on the local context, always working to ensure continuity of care in the country. We are ensuring that healthcare facilities in active conflict zones have the supplies they need—including medicines, blood, etc.—and are strengthening buildings to withstand attack, so these facilities can continue operating. In areas that have seen conflict but have been liberated, International Medical Corps is helping to rehabilitate healthcare facilities that have been damaged by the fighting while providing the support needed to restore care to the community. In areas under threat of attack, we are upgrading systems, hardening facilities and ensuring alterative sources of water supply, among other measures. For example, after the June 2023 breach of the Kakhovka Dam disrupted water supply for hundreds of thousands of people and the healthcare facilities that serve them, we ensured that these people and facilities could continue to access clean water.

From our operational hubs in Ukraine, we also provide material support in the way of food, non-food items (NFIs), and medical supplies and equipment. In all of our efforts, rather than establishing a parallel system, we support and operate out of existing health centers or community spaces, helping to strengthen and supplement existing capacity. Our training programs also seek to strengthen the capacity of Ukrainian care providers and first responders to provide emergency and trauma care.

In addition, for as long as we’ve been in Ukraine, International Medical Corps has been working with the country’s Ministry of Health (MoH) to coordinate efforts. We will continue to work with the MoH—as well as with local ministries of health in the country’s oblasts—to provide lifesaving services to community members, internally displaced people or those forced to flee across international borders.

Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS)

After so many years of conflict in the east, the Ukrainian people already had been exposed to significant uncertainty and emotional distress. Levels of fear and anxiety about their exposure to violence and trauma—along with stressors related to displacement and family separation—have only risen as the war has escalated.

International Medical Corps works directly in communities and with local partner organizations to provide appropriate MHPSS programming and training to those in need. From 2014 to 2022, we used mobile teams to reach villages along the line of contact in the eastern conflict—and we have continued this work throughout the country, despite the invasion and wider scope of war. Our psychologists, case workers and community-based facilitators have established support groups to provide people—including caregivers—with psychosocial support.

We are continuing to increase the availability of comprehensive MHPSS services to address emotional distress, to provide psychological first aid (and train others to do so), and to prevent and treat mental health conditions. We are increasing mental health services by hiring mental health staff in primary healthcare centers; building the capacity of psychosocial support providers through training; providing psychoeducation, sensitization and mass media campaigns; and providing MHPSS support to MoH staff within International Medical Corps-supported healthcare facilities. We also are focusing on community-based activities involving psychosocial support for host communities and internally displaced persons (IDPs), as well as providing activities for children, to help host communities and IDPs better cope with the effects of the war.

Violence Against Women and Girls

In situations of conflict and displacement, women and girls face new and heightened protection risks, which are compounded by interruptions in services and support networks. International Medical Corps has experience in Ukraine that can help. From 2015 to 2020, we delivered prevention and response programs in partnership with local organizations and communities, organizing women’s and girls’ safe spaces, training caseworkers to provide individualized care for women and child survivors of violence, and mobilizing communities to reduce risks and prevent incidents of violence.

We also have supported children and adolescents residing in areas of conflict by creating safe spaces that promote well-being, as well as social and emotional development. And we have provided essential life-skills training among these groups, including self-awareness, group and community interaction, peer and family relationships, and leadership.

Now, we are working to ensure that women and girls in Ukraine have access to safe spaces, material support and focused response services for survivors of rape and other forms of violence. We also are working to ensure the safety of children and adolescents, who are particularly vulnerable during times of war.

Aid to Refugees

In addition to expanding our existing programs in Ukraine, International Medical Corps set up a country program in Poland, and maintained a presence in Romania and Moldova, enabling us to provide humanitarian services throughout the region in the initial years after the Russian invasion. We established supply corridors, procured medicines, supplies and equipment based on requests we received from hospitals and primary-care centers within Ukraine, and moved these critically needed items across borders as needed. We worked with government agencies to provide medical care, mental health and psychosocial support and protection services to refugees, both directly and with partners.

For example, in Poland—where we were a registered NGO and set up a robust country program—we worked with partners to provide health and MHPSS services to refugees. We also distributed health- and WASH-related supplies—as well as non-food items (NFIs), such as diapers and towels—to shelters and reception centers, and offered employment opportunities to displaced Ukrainians with specialized skills to provide services to fellow refugees. And we provided technical assistance on protection-related issues, with priorities including services related to violence against women and girls, child-friendly spaces, and psychosocial first aid (PFA) support and training.

In Moldova, we worked with the Ministry of Health to strengthen its health system, particularly along the border with Ukraine, and provided shipments of health- and WASH-related supplies to facilities and reception centers there. We also provided training to strengthen the health system and help it prepare for potential additional waves of refugees.

Help people affected by war in Ukraine.