Four Decades of Delivering Health and Hope

International Medical Corps was founded 40 years ago in Afghanistan by Dr. Robert Simon and other volunteer doctors and nurses who had one lifesaving mission in mind: deliver vital care, training and supplies to people who need it most, no matter where they are located or how challenging it may be to reach them.

During a time when the conventional humanitarian model was to parachute in and disappear when the headlines faded, Dr. Simon realised that the only sustainable way forward was to train local health workers to care for their own.

In the four decades since our founding, our teams have leaped into action, responding to critical emergencies in more than 80 countries, often going where others wouldn’t, to provide care to families affected by violent conflict, natural disasters, hunger and disease. But depending on the crisis, our motto of “first there, no matter where” can look very different. Here are a few examples.

DRC

International Medical Corps has worked in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since 1999. Our teams provide primary and secondary healthcare services, capacity-building activities, gender-based violence prevention and treatment, and nutritional support, among other programmes like disease prevention and control. We are responding to the rapid spread of mpox by providing training and personal protective equipment to healthcare providers.

In the hills of South Kivu, local community members help an International Medical Corps team push a mobile medical unit (MMU) across a rocky river, helping our team continue their journey to provide medical services for families displaced from their homes due to violent conflict in the region.

While on a mission to deliver supplies and medicines to displaced people and host communities in eastern DRC, International Medical Corps logistics staff quickly disembarked from a speedboat after harsh waves caused them to initiate an emergency docking due to safety concerns.

While delivering vital medical supplies, International Medical Corps staff members operating the MMU decided to unload and carry several boxes to continue their journey on foot, due to treacherous road conditions.

Ukraine

With a history of working in Ukraine since 1999, International Medical Corps expanded our response efforts after Russia’s full-fledged invasion of the country in February 2022. Despite the danger, our teams are providing Ukrainians inside and outside the country with urgently needed medical services and training, mental health and psychosocial support, and water, sanitation and hygiene services.

Despite the ever-changing and dangerous circumstances, our doctors, nurses, nutritionists, logisticians and other essential team members are always ready to save lives and improve health.

Access to timely medical care and essential services can be challenging for villages near Izium, Ukraine. That’s why our team members operate a MMU that ventures into remote areas in conjunction with a van that safely shuttles medical professionals and local community members to and from the MMU.

In response to continued conflict near Chernihiv, International Medical Corps teams provide urgently needed mental health care, generators and other non-food items to families living in temporary “villages” in Novoselivka, where violent attacks destroyed many homes and communal buildings.

Afghanistan

In 1984, International Medical Corps was founded in response to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Despite the difficulties and dangers involved in providing humanitarian aid in Afghanistan, our teams have continued to deliver healthcare, training and related services to communities suffering from the effects of natural disasters, conflict and disease.

International Medical Corps team members carry essential medicines and even school supplies as they travel across rocky mountain ranges to the remote village of Ziarat in eastern Afghanistan.

Venezuela

International Medical Corps began working in Venezuela five years ago, venturing into remote and hard-to-reach areas to help indigenous communities by providing them with the training, tools and medical support needed to keep families healthy.

In the isolated region of Isla Perico in Bolivar state, our team travels by canoe along a river, carrying medicines, supplies and hygiene kits for local communities.

In Bolivar state, International Medical Corps team members work with ten indigenous community health centers, providing essential medical equipment and supplies for vital healthcare services.

CAR

International Medical Corps has provided lifesaving services to conflict-affected communities, internally displaced people and refugees in the Central African Republic (CAR) since 2007. Despite ongoing conflict, our teams provide communities with primary healthcare services, nutritional support and protection services.

Our team’s dedication never wavers when lives are at stake. We will continue to use every resource available to deliver lifesaving care, whether by car, motorcycle, boat, foot—or even horse-driven cart.

When the rainy season begins in the Central African Republic, International Medical Corps staff members don’t shy away from carrying out missions. They often travel by horseback through flooded rivers to deliver essential supplies to refugees fleeing violent conflict in Sudan.

In Birao, an International Medical Corps nurse and two local community members brave flooded roads using a hand-made raft to reach neighboring communities severely affected by the recent floods.

Mali

In 2013, our teams began delivering essential nutrition, maternal, newborn, child health and other medical services to communities in throughout Mali. Our staff continue to operate in six different regions, supporting health facilities as well as women’s and girls’ safe spaces, and operating several mobile health clinics that journey deep into the desert to provide healthcare services to nomadic communities.

Dr. Oul Souleymente (to the right) waits for his next patient inside a small hut in the desert.

In Mali’s Taoudénit region, an International Medical Corps nurse dispenses medication under the shade of an MMU to patients who have just completed a medical consultation.

International Medical Corps midwife Awa Konaté conducts a medical consultation with a newborn. International Medical Corps midwife Awa Konaté conducts a medical consultation with a newborn.

International Medical Corps’ mission of helping the world’s most vulnerable requires immense coordination and support. Luckily, thanks to the unwavering generosity of our global donor community, we will continue to be first there—no matter where—to deliver compassion, health and hope where needed most, for decades to come.