Around the world, people continue to be displaced by conflict and natural disasters. Whether they are fleeing conflict in Afghanistan, Sudan, Syria or Ukraine, or natural disaster right here in the United States, International Medical Corps is there to help them recover and rebuild when they’ve left everything behind.
Jordan
“Without these facilities, they would be alone in the middle of the desert,” says Dr. Ahmad Zghool, an International Medical Corps Health Coordinator who has worked with Syrian refugees in Jordan’s Azraq camp since its inception in 2014.
The United Nations defines a refugee as someone who has fled to escape conflict, violence or persecution and sought safety in another country. Years of conflict in Syria led to millions of refugees seeking safety abroad, particularly in neighboring countries. Despite being a small country of only 11 million people, Jordan is among the countries with the highest number of refugees per capita, hosting about 620,000 registered Syrian refugees. Though nearly 500,000 live in urban areas, more than 126,000 live in refugee camps. The two largest are Azraq and Zaatari.
Life in the camps is hard for residents of all ages as they lack many basic services and their futures remain uncertain. International Medical Corps has operated in Jordan for more than a decade, providing essential services to displaced people, including comprehensive healthcare, protection assistance and mental health and nutrition services. In Azraq and Zaatari camps, we are the sole provider of 24/7 emergency health services.
To help young people in Zaatari, International Medical Corps runs recreational activities for children. For example, in the “Be My Friend” program, children attend our child-friendly safe spaces to participate in structured dancing and theatre exercises. Through creative expression and physical movement, this program strengthens the protective environment for children living in the camp and supports their resilience and well-being during times of stress.
Pakistan
“My father came from Afghanistan about 40 years ago, along with other family members and friends,” explains Shukrullah, a resident of Badaber, a village in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where the residents are mostly Afghan refugees. “They reached these refugee villages using mules, horses and camels because there were no proper transportation services available to them. I was born here, and I now have a child.”
International Medical Corps has worked in Pakistan for 40 years. We began by training young Afghan refugees who then returned to their home communities in Afghanistan and provided basic healthcare in places that medical professionals had fled following the 1979 Soviet invasion. In 1999, we extended our training to the Afghan refugee population living in what is now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Since then, we have continued to train Afghan refugees in the province—and their descendants—in first-aid skills they can use to help their communities.
“During the training, we learn what urgent and basic support should be provided to an injured person following an accident or in an emergency situation,” explains Shukrullah. “We will make every effort to ensure that our community benefits from everything we learn in first-aid and transportation training.”
International Medical Corps has provided lifesaving support to thousands of Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Read more of their stories: Finding A New Life in Pakistan.
South Sudan
After crossing into and spending a week in the South Sudan border town of Renk, Madine Ali and her children arrived in Malakal by boat. They had traveled from Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, to escape the violence there. After her husband was killed in Sudan’s ongoing civil war, it took Madine and her children 18 months to reach South Sudan, with the hope of settling in Juba, the country’s capital.
Madine’s story is all too common. The civil war that erupted in Sudan in April 2023 has forced millions to flee their homes in search of safety. For many people, this was a gut-wrenching reminder of the violence they had fled in South Sudan years earlier. Now, in the face of another conflict, they decided to return to South Sudan, making them returnees—refugees who are forced to return to their home country. Due to the conflict in Sudan, more than 11.6 million people are internally displaced, and 3.5 million have crossed into neighboring countries.
International Medical Corps is providing critical healthcare to refugees and returnees in South Sudan.
Niema Mobarek Tieya is another person who recently fled Sudan with her family to South Sudan. She is a returnee to South Sudan. As part of the services we provide to fight malnutrition among returnees and refugees, we gave her and her children BP-5 biscuits—high-calorie, vitamin-fortified emergency food.
Ukraine
“I never thought I would be able to leave my home,” says Tamara, a 96-year-old Ukrainian woman with limited mobility who was forced to evacuate her home in the eastern oblast of Donetsk, Ukraine, last year. “I had lost hope.”
In Ukraine, many people living in communities close to the front lines are also members of the most vulnerable groups—including older people, people with disabilities and mobility challenges, and people living in poverty. The ongoing conflict has severely affected these populations, but finding solutions to safely evacuate them has been challenging.
Recognizing the seriousness of the situation, International Medical Corps collaborated with the Social Protection Department of the Prokrovsk City Council to find a sustainable solution. Our team worked with a local vendor to modify a large van, installing a mobile ramp to enable wheelchair access, creating an adaptable interior layout to allow caregivers to travel in the van, and providing sufficient space for people using wheelchairs and walkers.
Since August 2024, hundreds of people have been evacuated from Pokrovsk in this van, shielding them from the immediate threat of the war and offering them renewed hope for a better future.
According to the United Nations, in 2024 there were 3.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine and 6.7 million Ukrainians seeking refuge abroad—more than one-quarter of the country’s entire population. Millions fled to nearby Poland, where our mobile teams provided urgently needed services.
Learn more about the communities we’re helping in Ukraine: A Look Back: Two Years Since the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.
United States
In January, a series of wildfires spread across Southern California, burning more than 57,000 acres, razing entire neighborhoods, destroying houses, schools, community centers and places of worship, and leaving behind toxic debris. With their neighborhoods reduced to ash and rubble, the fire-affected residents were forced to leave their homes to avoid the effects of a disaster while remaining within the borders of their country—meaning they were IDPs according to the United Nations’ definition of the term. Though it might be considered an unusual application of the term in this context, it helps us understand the needs of the population and the humanitarian response necessary to serve those needs.
For example, a man in Altadena displaced by the Eaton Fire approached one of our volunteers to request food at a re-entry point to the neighborhood there. He was living in his car and needed humanitarian aid. Although he only requested food, our team connected him with additional services, including mental health and psychosocial support, financial assistance, temporary housing and debris removal. Just like displaced persons all over the world, people in the United States deserve this level of aid when disaster strikes.
Around the world, International Medical Corps provides services to IDPs, refugees, returnees and host communities. Donate to International Medical Corps today to help people affected by conflict, disaster and disease.