Supporting children and families with emergency medical care

When conflicts break out or disasters strike, millions of families turn to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) for medical relief. We are granting MSF €21 million to provide medical care in emergencies—including trauma care, life-saving surgeries, maternity and paediatric services, and primary healthcare. (Photo credit above: Mosul, Iraq. MSF/Louise Annaud)

We have worked with MSF since 2013 to fund their emergency programmes and services around the world.

In 2014, we gave MSF €5 million to fight the Ebola virus in West Africa  (photo credit above: Foya, Liberia MSF/Martin Zinggl) where staff worked around the clock to treat patients stricken with the disease. We have also given several grants to support their work during the conflict in Syria .(Photo credit below: Iraq. Yuri Kozyrev/Noor)

In 2016, we signed an agreement with MSF to provide grants worth up to €3 million to respond to “unseen” disasters. These are emergencies which receive little or no attention in the media, and include ongoing conflicts in north-eastern Nigeria and Yemen. (Photo credit below: Ibb, Yemen. MSF/Malak Shaher)

Annemieke Tsike-Sossah, the IKEA Foundation’s Head of Portfolio for Reshaping Humanitarian Response, says: “We have worked with MSF for many years and believe in the incredible work they do in extremely challenging—often dangerous—situations.

“We realise they need immediate access to funding they can use in any situation, anywhere, without having to first explain to a funder why they need the money. The faster they can set up hospitals and clinics, the more lives they will save. “That’s why we’re granting MSF unrestricted funding to provide healthcare to the children and families who need it most.”

Unrestricted funding will be used for interventions like in Iraq (photo above), where much of the hearth infrastructure is still dysfunctional.  Karel Hendriks, Head of Mission for Iraq at MSF says (June 2018): “One of the biggest issue affecting the population at the moment is that 70% of the health infrastructure is still dysfunctional, because the medical professionals are still displaced and because medical complexes have been fully destroyed.”

“The needs in terms of primary, secondary and more specialized services are huge and there is a growing gap between the available service and the needs of a returning population.”  “Healthcare in Mosul is affected by a number of shortages, medical professional are displaced, equipment and supplies of medication are lacking.” (Photo credit below: Mosul, Iraq. MSF/Louise Annaud)

Liesbeth Aelbrecht General Director MSF Switzerland says “The IKEA Foundation has been a key supporter of Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders Switzerland since 2013. Since then, we’ve developed a strategic partnership based on mutual trust. We’re so thankful to IKEA Foundation for renewing its commitment to life-saving humanitarian action to help the world’s most vulnerable people.”