For immediate Release
September 9, 2020
Washington, D.C.- SAMS has received a new grant from the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP) for COVID-19 mitigation through specialized healthcare in Lebanon and Greece. This award comes at a time when Lebanon is grappling with a spike in coronavirus cases in the aftermath of the Beirut explosion last month, further crippling its economic instability.
Refugees living in crowded conditions and temporary housing are exceptionally vulnerable to the secondary repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as loss of access to specialized healthcare. Through this grant, SAMS will provide specialized healthcare services to refugees and asylum seekers in Greece’s Attica region and Lebanon’s Beka’a Valley and Arsa in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. SAMS will also provide community health education to raise awareness and mitigate the spread of the pandemic among the most vulnerable.
These localities are part of SAMS’ COVID-19 mitigation strategy to fill increasingly unmet healthcare needs among vulnerable populations. While both countries are at different phases of the COVID-19 disaster life cycle, both face specialized healthcare gaps, mainly for refugees and migrants living in dire conditions ripe for the spread of the disease. Urban refugee populations in the capital of Athens face severe barriers to access healthcare, including transportation, cost, and language barriers, which have only intensified due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The clinical portion of this program in Greece will incorporate both telemedicine and mobile medical clinical services, serving an average of 18 patients per day. SAMS doctors will provide family planning consultations, antenatal visits, birth and complication planning, as well as management of pregnancy-related medical conditions for women. Children will receive well-child visits, diagnosis, and treatment of outpatient pediatric illnesses.
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, SAMS has been actively engaged to support efforts in the fight against COVID-19 in the U.S., Syria, and neighboring countries, distributing PPE to frontline healthcare workers, establishing COVID-19 care centers in northwest Syria, and conducting ongoing training and workshops on the novel coronavirus.
About the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP):
The Center for Disaster Philanthropy’s mission is to leverage the power of philanthropy to mobilize a full range of resources that strengthen the ability of communities to withstand disasters and recover equitably when they occur. CDP manages domestic and international Disaster Funds on behalf of corporations, foundations, and individuals through targeted, holistic, and localized grant-making. For more information, please visit www.disasterphilanthropy.org.
For media inquiries, please contact SAMS’ Senior Communications and Media Manager, Lobna Hassairi, at lobna.hassairi@sams-us.net.
