Care and surgery
Training and skills transfer
Building and equipping hospitals
Prevention and screening
Emergencies and humanitarian crises
Maternal health
World Humanitarian Day 2024
World Humanitarian Day, celebrated on August 19, is an opportunity to highlight the fundamental role played by the various players in the humanitarian sector.
Celebrated every year on August 19, World Humanitarian Day pays tribute to humanitarian aid workers and highlights the many humanitarian actions carried out around the world. Given the role played by La Chaîne de l’Espoir in promoting access to healthcare, this day in the calendar has a special meaning for our association.
Explanations.
What is World Humanitarian Day?
Established in 2008 by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, Humanitarian Aid Day aims to raise public awareness of the dangers, risks and perils to which professionals in the humanitarian sector are exposed on a daily basis.
The day also serves to highlight major humanitarian challenges, including humanitarian crises caused by natural disasters, armed conflict and other humanitarian emergencies.
Last but not least, World Humanitarian Day is an opportunity to promote international solidarity and the application and respect of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). This set of rules was adopted to guarantee the protection of people who are not, or are no longer, taking part in combat. It is a means of limiting the effects of armed conflict in order to protect civilians and humanitarian workers.
What does the 2024 theme #ActForHumanity(#AgirPourLHumanité) mean?
The World Humanitarian Day theme for 2024, #ActForHumanity, highlights the urgency of responding to the alarming increase in attacks on aid workers and civilians.
It underlines the need to reinforce advocacy for the strict application of IHL to guarantee the protection of vulnerable people, and to put an end to impunity for violations of this right.
The aim is therefore to call on governments, international institutions, NGOs and citizens to commit themselves actively to defending the principles of humanity, neutrality and impartiality. These principles are at the heart of humanitarian aid.
Thus, #AgirPourLHumanité is a call to everyone’s humanitarian commitment to defend human rights and protect war victims and civilian populations, while supporting those who risk their lives to bring aid to conflict zones. It is also an opportunity to press for the perpetrators of these attacks to be held accountable, and for the protection of civilians to be an absolute priority in international policies.
What’s the link with La Chaîne de l’Espoir’s actions and programs?
The theme #AgirPourLHumanité echoes the missions of La Chaîne de l’Espoir, which works tirelessly to provide medical care to the most vulnerable children and populations, often in environments marked by war and humanitarian crises.
For example, in Nepal where, since 2018, we have been working in health centers, a kind of school infirmary, where nurses identify children suffering from health problems and/or requiring psychosocial follow-up. They also teach them about hygiene, health (including women’s health) and the risks of the street.
These centers are supported and supervised by four regional structures, comprising a medical team and social workers. They provide primary health care to children identified in advance, and also refer them to hospitals if necessary.
In 2023, this program provided medical and psychosocial support for over 10,000 children, referred 937 children to hospital, supplied 19,074 menstrual hygiene kits, and delivered 1,222 awareness-raising sessions.
In Ukraine, in the 1st half of 2024, with the support of the Crédit Agricole Assurances Group and the Crisis and Support Center of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, two new shipments were made in response to the needs expressed locally by healthcare personnel and facilities. The 1st shipment contained biomedical equipment including a craniotome and surgical aspirators, as well as trauma kits for the first truck; the 2nd was loaded with resuscitation and operating tables, laparoscopy columns, sternal saws and anti-bedsore mattresses.
In all, some twenty Ukrainian hospitals in the Mykolaïv, Dnipro, Kharkiv and Zaporijia regions will be able to use this essential equipment to guarantee and preserve access to healthcare for the most vulnerable populations.
Through its actions, La Chaîne de l’Espoir embodies the very principles of #AgirPourLHumanité by acting to protect the most vulnerable.
This day is an opportunity for our association to recall the importance of humanitarian action and international solidarity in the fight for a fairer, more humane world.
