© action medeor Info © action medeor Help in Ukraine continues Press releases 22 February 2024 Two years after the attack: action medeor organizes pharmaceutical supplies and provides aid for children, families and senior citizens Two years after the Russian attack on Ukraine, the health aid organization action medeor continues to provide humanitarian aid. The “emergency pharmacy of the world”, as action medeor is also known, has been supplying hospitals throughout the country with medicines and medical equipment since the first days of the war. Over 900 tons of medical supplies have now been transported from the medicine warehouse in Tönisvorst on the Lower Rhine to Ukraine. In the south of the country, action medeor is also supporting children, families and senior citizens with water, food, medical care and psychological help. According to the aid organization, this support is more necessary than ever. “After two years of war, many people are tired, some are physically and mentally at the end of their tether,” Markus Bremers reports, press spokesman for action medeor. He was in Ukraine himself just a few days ago to visit some aid projects in the Odessa area. “People are trying to establish a kind of normality in the midst of the war,” he says, describing his impressions, “but of course this is not always possible, because the constant threat of missiles and drones is putting a heavy strain on people. Many have also had to flee their homes and are now living in temporary accommodation. And then there are the daily outages in the electricity, gas, water and internet supply." According to Bremers, the social situation in the country is also tense. Many people have lost their jobs, while prices have exploded and social benefits from the state have had to be cut. "As a result, many people simply can no longer afford their medication. Some have to decide every day whether to buy something to eat or medicine. You can't do both at the same time,” Bremers reports. In this situation, action medeor and its local partners provide humanitarian aid that is vital for the survival of many people. Two of these partner organizations have now joined action medeor in taking stock of their activities. In Odessa, for example, action medeor cooperates with the organization Your City, which runs a social pharmacy where medicines are distributed free of charge to those in need. “Refugee families with children, people with disabilities, single parents and pensioners come to us,” Igor Fedin explains, who set up the social pharmacy in March 2022. Around 3,000 people use the services of the social pharmacy in Odessa every month. “Many of them need the medication to survive,” Fedin says. action medeor reaches a further 1,000 people per month in the villages around Mykolaiv and Kherson with a mobile pharmacy. “Supplying people here is even more difficult, as some of the villages in the east are very close to the front line,” explains Maxim Friesen from the Ukrainian partner organization Farwater. “In these regions, most of the houses and the entire infrastructure have been destroyed,” Friesen says, “so there is no supply of water, electricity or gas. And in Kherson in the east, there is daily shelling from rockets, grenades and drones." The aid workers from Farwater are therefore taking great risks to supply people living just a few kilometers behind the front line with essential medicines. “Our helpers have also come under fire in the process,” Friesen explains, “but fortunately no one has ever been injured.” In addition to providing pharmaceutical supplies, action medeor is also supporting the people with water and food. In Mykolayiv, a warming center has been set up where 1,000 hot meals are served every day. Right next door, a large bakery bakes 17,000 loaves of bread every week with the help of action medeor. They are served in the warming room, but also distributed to social institutions for children and people with disabilities. Finally, action medeor also takes care of people's mental health with various activities. These include psychological counseling services as well as very low-threshold activities such as play afternoons for children. “These activities are not just a children's program,” Markus Bremers explains , “but something very important happens: the children are allowed to just be children for a short period of time. They get their light-heartedness back for a moment. You can se it in their eyes how much they love it. And how much they need it." If you would like to support the work of action medeor, you can donate online at www.medeor.de/spenden . There you can also leave your address for a donation receipt. You can also make a traditional bank transfer via IBAN DE78320500000000009993 at Sparkasse Krefeld, keyword: “Emergency aid worldwide”. Your contact person Dr. Markus Bremers Press spokesman Phone: +49 2156 9788-178 TPL_EMAIL This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.