Life-saving help when people need it most

MHPSS refers to a range of interventions designed to support the psychological wellbeing and social functioning of people affected by emergencies. In Medair programmes, this includes individual and group counselling, psychosocial first aid, and community-based support activities to help people process trauma and rebuild resilience.

Our Global Support Office is in Switzerland - where we were originally founded in 1989 - with Shared Service Centres in Kenya and Lebanon and national offices in France, Germany, South Korea, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and the United States. Medair is currently responding to humanitarian needs in 13 countries worldwide and has responded in 45 countries since 1989.

We rely on the time, money and prayer of our generous network of supporters. If you'd like to volunteer, make a donation, partner with us or learn how you can pray for our work, visit our Get Involved page for more information.

Yes. Medair offers the option to sponsor a specific project, allowing you to direct your gift towards a particular country, sector (such as health, WASH, or nutrition), or community. You can choose the impact you wish to make when donating by mentioning it in the comment section. If you prefer, you can also make an unrestricted donation, which Medair allocates where the need is greatest.

Medair focuses on people's most urgent needs in times of crisis, which most often includes water and sanitation, nutrition, health, and shelter. We also use cash assistance where appropriate to help people provide for themselves, allowing them to prioritise their biggest needs while investing in the local economy. The people we serve are often traumatised, so we offer mental health and psychosocial support.

Medair delivers emergency and recovery assistance across five core sectors: Health (including mental health and psychosocial support), Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Nutrition, Emergency Shelter and Non-Food Items (NFIs), and Disaster Risk Reduction. Medair also uses cash assistance where appropriate to empower communities to meet their own priority needs.

Our mandate is to respond to urgent humanitarian needs resulting from disaster, disease, and conflict. However, for communities to be more resilient, they need to become better prepared and resourced to withstand future threats. That's why we also work on disaster risk reduction, disaster preparedness, and climate change adaptation with communities. We also train health staff and communities, and hire staff locally to strengthen their capacity to respond to emergencies. For example, in places prone to climate disasters like Madagascar, we developed an early warning system to help communities prepare for incoming cyclones and local staff and communities to maintain water systems and ensure the availability of clean water in the long term.

We are transparent about our finances and committed to using them wisely – 88.9% of our funding goes directly to delivering humanitarian assistance and 11.1% to supporting management and fundraising efforts. We are certified to the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS), which underlines our programme excellence and commitment to giving communities the lead role in finding local solutions. And we are deeply committed to upholding and being accountable for our codes of ethics and protection policies.

Medair provides a wide range of emergency and primary healthcare services, including general outpatient consultations, treatment of acute communicable and non-communicable diseases, maternal and reproductive healthcare, nutrition screening and management, vaccination campaigns, and mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS).

WASH stands for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene. It is one of the most critical interventions in emergencies because unsafe water and poor sanitation are leading causes of disease outbreaks and child mortality in crisis settings. Medair delivers safe drinking water, constructs latrines, and promotes hygiene practices to prevent disease and protect lives.

A rapid multi-sector assessment is an initial field evaluation conducted immediately after an emergency to understand the scale and nature of humanitarian needs. Medair teams gather data on health, water, shelter, and food security through direct observation and key informant interviews, which informs the design of an appropriate emergency response.

Medair deploys mobile medical units and supports fixed health facilities to deliver primary healthcare services in crises. These services include general outpatient consultations, treatment of communicable and non-communicable diseases, maternal and reproductive healthcare, vaccinations, nutrition screening, and mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS).

Medair's nutrition teams conduct screenings to identify acute malnutrition, provide therapeutic and supplementary feeding, run vaccination campaigns, and promote infant and young child feeding practices. In Kenya, for example, nutrition outreach teams travel to remote villages to reach children at risk of death from severe acute malnutrition.

Medair works side-by-side with local communities, hiring and training local staff, partnering with local organisations, and involving community members in the design and implementation of programmes. This approach builds local capacity, ensures cultural relevance, and leads to more sustainable outcomes.

Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is a life-threatening condition caused by extreme food insecurity and poor nutrition, most often affecting young children. Medair treats SAM through community-based management programmes using therapeutic feeding products (such as ready-to-use therapeutic food, or RUTF), along with medical treatment for associated infections and close monitoring of recovery.

In displacement crises, families often lose their homes and belongings entirely. Medair distributes emergency shelter kits, tarpaulins, and non-food items such as blankets, cooking sets, and hygiene kits to help displaced families survive and maintain dignity while longer-term solutions are identified.

Yes. Where markets are functioning and access is safe, Medair uses cash transfers as part of its response. Cash assistance gives affected people the flexibility to prioritise their most urgent needs while also supporting local economies — making it an efficient and dignifying form of aid.