Health in emergencies

The impact of humanitarian crises creates gaps in quality essential health services and exacerbates already weak health systems, leading to preventable deaths. In crisis-affected areas, FHI 360 works to strengthen health services to ensure people have access to diagnostics, treatment and preventative screening for communicable and noncommunicable diseases and that women and adolescent girls receive quality and timely sexual and reproductive health services. Using a comprehensive approach, we integrate nutrition, WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) and protection services into our health programming, including direct service delivery within the same targeted areas as well as referrals between services, so that we improve the health and well-being of crisis-affected people.

Through mobile health and nutrition teams, we offer health services in areas where static health facilities are either no longer functional, have been damaged or destroyed by conflict, and/or are inaccessible or far away from crisis-affected communities. Working with the ministry of health in each country where we operate, we also support static health facilities by providing urgently needed medications, supplies and equipment; training health care workers to address identified gaps in skills and service delivery; and strengthening surveillance and outbreak response services for reportable diseases. We also work to prevent and treat communicable and noncommunicable diseases, support sexual and reproductive health, treat injuries, and provide mental health and psychosocial support. At the community level, we support community health workers and volunteers in distributing materials, raising awareness, and participating in disease surveillance and reporting for outbreak response.

In all contexts where FHI 360 delivers humanitarian assistance, we coordinate closely with international and local nongovernment organizations, local government, and U.N. agencies. We actively participate in humanitarian coordination mechanisms and meetings, including clusters, as well as sector-specific forums to ensure that health services are aligned to country-specific guidelines, referral pathways are shared with other actors, and services are not duplicated.

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Amid war, Ukrainians find healing in mental health support

Throughout the war in Ukraine, mental health professionals have reported an uptick in stress-related conditions among Ukrainians. FHI 360 supports psychologists who are embedded within 11 mobile medical units. These teams travel to over 150 different villages in six regions of Ukraine and offer both mental and physical health care.

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