Medical research

Launch of a new support program for refugees and displaced persons

In 2023, the Foundation launched a new funding programme to support projects for the protection and improvement of the health of refugees and vulnerable people in conflict regions.

In response to the call, 25 project applications were submitted and assessed by the review panel. At the request of the panel, the foundation board approved the funding of the following four projects totalling CHF 2.6 million in November 2023:

• Swiss Red Cross: Removing barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive health services in centres for displaced people from Rakhine State in Bangladesh
• Swisspeace: Supporting the psychosocial and psychological wellbeing of displaced Syrian women struggling with complex loss in Syria, Lebanon and Germany
• FAIRMED: War, displacement, economic and food crises, and disease – overcoming multiple stresses on the way to better health and wellbeing by improving gender equality in Jaffna and Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka.
• Swiss TPH: Democratisation of measures against neglected tropical diseases through “citizen science” to improve women’s health in a precarious environment at Lake Chad, Chad

ParaSahel – DIMAS

In crisis areas, health systems struggle to serve refugee, internally displaced people (IDPs) and host populations. These struggles are even multiplied when crisis occur in countries with a low economic status, as it is the case for Chad in central Africa. Here, the governmental health sector’s reality is marked by insufficient funding, weak infrastructure and shortage of qualified health staff. As a consequence, the negative impact on lacking health services for all population groups is inevitable and to counter this vicious cycle dependence on international aid is unavoidable. The project ParaSahel – Dimas aims to democratize Neglected Tropical Diseases Interventions through Citizen Science for Improving Women’s Health at Lake Chad.

Find out more