Médecins du Monde

Médecins du Monde, a campaigning medical organisation committed to international solidarity, has been caring for the most vulnerable populations at home and abroad. It has continued to highlight obstacles that exist in accessing health care and has secured sustainable improvements in health-for-all policies. Those working for this independent organisation do not solely dispense care and treatment but condemn violations of human dignity and rights and fight to improve matters for populations living in precarious situations. MdM currently works in more than 40 countries across all continents where it focuses on 5 priority areas: emergency and crisis, sexual and reproductive health, harm reduction, migrants and displaced populations (health rights), health and environment. The overall objective of MdM’s programme is to build resilience in the health sector through integrated disaster risk reduction activities in order to reduce disease, death and disability during emergencies in Gaza. In 2019, Gaza is likely to face renewed violence and conflict; resulting in mass casualties and the knock on an already fragile and under-resourced health system. MdM France will implement together with WHO an intervention to upgrade five hospitals in Gaza to major trauma hospitals for them to be able to cope with the influx of injuries during times of mass casualty. The first priority is the development of a network of Gaza’s key emergency and trauma hospitals with contingency plans and overall hospital preparedness for mass casualty mitigation. MdM France and WHO will work together with the MoH and NGO hospitals to designate five emergency/trauma hospitals (one in each governorate). The second purpose of this dedicated team will be to scope out any bottlenecks in the system that could be tackled by WHO and MdM France. MdM France and WHO will provide the essential and basic supplies to support the emergency departments. Also, essential lifesaving drugs and disposables will be propositioned at each of the five trauma hospitals. As a complimentary approach, the Health Cluster has requested UNICEF to conduct small scale infrastructure changes to the emergency departments to also make them child-friendly, with funding from CERF.