Between February 13-24, 2023, Team Rubicon’s (TR) international team, in collaboration with Service d’Aide Medicale d’Urgence (SAMU) Niger, traveled to Niamey, Niger, providing medical trainings in two subjects, including MEDEVAC and pre-hospital care. Over the course of two weeks, TR provided training courses to SAMU staff to help Niger enhance its capacity in its prehospital program and local healthcare systems, similar to TR’s previous training in La Ceiba, Honduras in June 2022. The trainings were led by eight medical professionals and one team leader. In tandem with the training, TR also performed a needs assessment on Niger’s healthcare system to provide recommendations on how to further build capacity in the future. To date, TR has trained 133 course participants, in which trainings are set to be completed by February 24, 2023.

Between November 26th – December 23rd, 2022, Team Rubicon (TR) dispatched a team of volunteers to assist with medical support to vulnerable communities in the Donetsk and Kharkiv Oblasts. Following the success of the Practical Trauma Training Program, a group of 8 Greyshirt volunteers traveled to affected areas surrounding Kramatorsk, delivering critical medical assistance to 204 Ukrainians, including in Lyman, Pisky-Radkivski, Sviatohirsk, Khrestische, and Mayaky. Of the 204 people seen, over half of those individuals were over the age of 60, showcasing the need for medical care for older persons in these populations. For many Ukrainians in these conflict-impacted cities, the arrival of TR’s medical team was a welcomed sight, allowing people to access much-needed medical check-ups and prescriptions that had not readily been available since before the war. Learn more.

On October 7, 2022, Team Rubicon (TR) completed the Practical Trauma Training Program in Ukraine. Since early August, a 7-person mobile team provided targeted trainings in six topics to Ukrainian healthcare professionals and civilians across the country, including in 16 cities in 10 oblasts. Throughout the course of the program, TR completed 64 trainings to 1,549 unique individuals and donated an incredible amount of medical supplies, including 50 Butterfly iQ+ for point of care ultrasound. The program achieved all its objectives, including growing specialized medical capacity within the Ukrainian healthcare system, while making an incredible impact, as the capabilities developed will help save countless lives in the days and months to come. Learn more.

As the ongoing crisis in Haiti continues to escalate, Fonkoze’s team on the ground has remained steadfast. The past few months have seen fuel shortages, gang violence, and socio-political unrest. The lack of fuel has meant that some of Fonkoze's branches are down to their reserves, and reaching rural clients has become increasingly complex and dangerous. Despite the challenges, Fonkoze's teams are finding ways to serve families. For example, Chemin Lavi Miyo (CLM), Fonkoze’s empowering program for ultra-poor households, continues to provide intensive support and guidance to ultra-poor families, with 94% of CLM members graduating from the program in 2021. Learn more

Beginning in August 2022, Team Rubicon (TR) has been implementing a Practical Trauma Training program in Ukraine. The objective of this program is to expand specialized medical capacity within the Ukrainian healthcare system as it relates to conflict and emergency medicine to reduce potentially preventable morbidity and mortality, alleviate suffering, and to maintain human dignity during this time of war. This program provides training in six topics, including Whole Blood Transfusion, Stop the Bleed, Blast Injuries with Basic First Aid Field Trauma, Pre-hospital Care: Triage and Shock Management, Point of Care Ultrasound, and Treatment of Chemical Exposures. As of September 27, TR has trained 1,138 unique individuals, across 42 trainings, ranging from doctors, paramedics, nurses, hospital administrators, and other professions. TR is set to complete trainings on October 7, 2022.

Stretching for thousands of miles along the western edge of South America, the Andes is the longest continental mountain range in the world, extending across seven countries and attracting tourists from all over the globe.

But for the people who have lived in these mountains all of their lives, the Andes is simply the place they call home. And as beautiful as it can be, life there can be just as challenging. In the Cotopaxi province of Ecuador where Plan works, many villages are isolated, with no electricity or plumbing.

Here, girls in Ecuador share the joys and challenges of life in the highlands. Read their stories.

For Fouzia Farid-Mabrouki, a Moroccan psychologist, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown her that virtual therapy works. And it helps people feel safe—“especially those who want to be anonymous.” Since September 2021, FHI 360 has partnered with local psychologists to provide stigma-free mental health care to those living with HIV—including members of the LGBTQ+ community—in the MENA region through the MENA Moves project. Learn more.

CARE Afghanistan deployed three mobile health teams on June 22 to Khost and Paktika provinces, immediately following the devastating earthquake in eastern Afghanistan that is estimated to have killed between 770 and 1,000 people, left thousands more injured, and destroyed homes and livelihoods. Learn more

CARE and partner Charity Foundation for Stabilization Support Services (CFSSS) are working together to deliver live-saving assistance for people in need inside Ukraine. CARE and CFSSS are providing food and water as well as distributing hygiene items and medical packages for internally displaced people. Recently, CFSSS food distribution has taken place in Lviv, Chernivtsi, and Truskavets. Learn more