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Since then, the aid organization has sent more than four shipments a week to Ukraine, bringing the total number of aid shipments in one year to around 220 with 480 tons of medical supplies worth 8.5 million euros. “And in the next two to three weeks alone, we will send another 25 tons worth one million euros to Ukraine,” says Peruvemba.

Action medeor's aid shipments began two days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “On February 22, we received a call for help from a hospital in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil, which was running out of medicines,” Sid Peruvemba recalls. A few weeks later, a distribution center for medical supplies had already been set up in Ternopil.

From there and through direct deliveries, the aid organization has now reached around 250 hospitals and health stations throughout Ukraine. One year on, humanitarian aid for the war-torn country is by no means over, even if it has changed in the meantime. “In the beginning, Ukraine was in a state of shock,” Peruvemba reports, “important supply chains for medicines were suddenly torn down, and the influx of refugees in the country also posed major problems for well-functioning structures in hospitals, for example.”

action medeor has been helping to secure the supply of medicines and medical products from Germany since the very beginning. “In the meantime, however, many supply routes have stabilized again,” Peruvemba explains, which is why many medicines are now procured locally in addition to the aid shipments from Germany. “This is sometimes even shorter and faster - and it supports the local economic structures,” Peruvemba says.

Together with local partner organizations, action medeor organizes these local procurements - and much more. With the support of action medeor, the organization “Your City”, for example, runs a social pharmacy in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odessa that distributes medicines free of charge to those in need. “The concept is excellently organized, it reaches 450 people a week and now even has two branches,” Peruvemba reports. And it is important for the people. "The cost of energy and food has risen dramatically in Ukraine, while the social security systems no longer function as they used to. Many war refugees, but also many pensioners, can therefore no longer afford the medicines they need to survive,” reports Peruvemba, ‘we are making a substantial contribution to improving living conditions here.’

Another cooperation partner of action medeor is the organization “Farwater”, which is also active in the Odessa area, but not in the city, but in the villages and suburbs. “Many people who had to flee the embattled regions of Mykolaiev and Kherson live here,” Peruvemba explains. “They live in abandoned houses, often in extremely poor conditions with no heating or washing facilities.” Together with its local partners, action medeor is therefore providing these people with food, stoves and hygiene products.

And what will happen in the coming weeks and months? “As far as the security situation allows, we will expand our aid projects to the Mykolaiev and Kherson regions,” Peruvemba announces. "And we will do our bit to ensure that people receive medical care. We are therefore planning to set up a temporary initial reception clinic in these regions." Initial deliberations on suitable locations for such a facility are already in full swing. “Overall, however,” Peruvemba says, “we will be busy rebuilding the destroyed infrastructure in Ukraine for months, if not years to come.”

If you would like to support the work of action medeor, you can make a donation. If you donate online at www.medeor.de/spenden, you can also leave your address for a donation receipt. The classic way is via IBAN DE78320500000000009993 at Sparkasse Krefeld, donation keyword: “Emergency aid Ukraine and worldwide”.

The alliance “Aktion Deutschland Hilft”, of which action medeor is a member, is also currently calling for donations. Donation account DE62 3702 0500 0000 1020 30, keyword “Emergency aid Ukraine”.

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