Political violence drives much of this indigence, with 2 billion people – 420 million of whom are children – living in fragile or conflict-affected zones, creating as much as 80 percent of all humanitarian need on earth.In the face of this, we have created and sponsored innovative projects to heal bodies, minds, and souls among these most needy, like the joint Medstar Georgetown University Hospital and Palestinian Medical Education Initiative. We sponsor partners of this mental health program to train Palestinian school administrators, teachers, staff, and students in mental health awareness and support strategies, which reach outside schools to parents and relatives.
At home, we helped found and continue to support the Khalil Center, a psychological and spiritual community wellness center program, with mental health clinics in Chicago, the Bay area, Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto, and also offering WebTherapy, to reach people across the continent. We’ve also created Khalil Center mental health service cooperation understandings with Ibn Khaldun University, Ihsan Academy, Zahraa University and other institutions in Turkey. Khalil Center also provides community crisis-training programs for counseling volunteers, offers onsite mental health awareness and education programs, trains community leaders, imams, educators and counselors with first responders’ mental health training, and monitors a growing people-in-crisis hotline.
Our Sigharuna-Kibaruna (Our Little Ones, Our Elders) free clinic in Hatay province, Turkey, treats disabled Syrian refugee children for sensory and brain trauma, including hearing, speech, and eye organ and function problems from the war. We support its doctors, specialists, teachers and administrators. While in Jordan, we’ve partnered with United Muslim Relief’s Medical Mission for Vulnerable Families composed of both Syrian refugees and host communities in Jordan to treat underserved populations, including Iraqi and Yemeni refugees, for primary health consultations.
In Mali, Bangladesh, Kenya, and Sudan our Health Outreach Programs sponsor community clinics to provide health services to vulnerable, impoverished, and remote community members with no other access to medical care, especially for maternity, women’s, and newborn’s needs; general health; immunizations; and chronic illness. In addition, we provide equipment, medicines, and medical professional training for Basic and Intermediate Life Support, Infection Control, Communication Skills, Professionalism and Patient Safety, and pre- and post-natal mothers unit management.
