Transforming humanitarian action

We, the Independent Doctors Association have the staff, the skills and the access to save lives in Syria right now. We have three primary health centres ready to support people desperately in need. All we're lacking is the medicine crucial to saving thousands of lives each month. And you can help. Every £2 you can give is another person we can treat.

Fatima is a #BossNana. You know the type - puts everyone else first, seemingly juggles 1000 things at once and always has a sweet treat to slip you when no one’s looking.

Fatima safely navigated her grandchildren and disabled husband out of harm's way when their house came under attack from the Syrian regime. Despite a lack of food and water, she led them to a safer place, an olive grove near the Turkish border - convincing the landowner to let them use the trees for shelter under the scorching sun. She’s keeping a smile on her grandchildren’s faces despite the diseases and sickness ravaging the area.

But Fatima can’t do it alone. Her family have pressing needs and they require urgent access to healthcare to support them - which is what the Independent Doctors Association is trying to provide. She told us:

“The children are fine, thank god. But we’re living under a tree. One of the kids is getting sick and my husband has ongoing needs from a head injury as a result of an airstrike two years ago. We need your help.”

DOUBLE YOUR IMPACT!

For the first time ever, CanDo will match EVERY contribution people make. So for every £1 you give, you will actually be giving £2!

A brutal combination of 8 years of war, a huge displacement of people due to recent airstrikes and the demolition of health care structures from bombing means that Syria’s healthcare system is on its knees. Meanwhile the UN recently reported that only 27% of the 2019 humanitarian response plan has been met 6 months into the year. [1]

At the IDA we’re responding to the need for additional health support by providing primary health clinics for displaced, sick people like Fatima’s family. But we urgently need your support to ensure these clinics are stocked with the necessary drugs, medicines and medical equipment to keep people healthy and protected despite their circumstances.

Just £12,405 will provide enough medicine to stock 3 clinics for three months, supporting up to 22,500 people directly and supporting an area with 52,000 people. £11,528 will go directly on drugs and medicine, with £877 covering transportation costs to ensure this medicine gets to the people who need it. That means every £2 covers another person to get vaccinated, treated or to have a check up. It’ll be the best £2 you’ve ever spent.

The IDA has been working in Syria for 8 years now. We’re what no one wants to be - experts at healthcare in warzones. We know the challenges, the dangers and the best way to provide healthcare in a war zone. We know how to deal with them, what medicines people need most and how to get the community involved to stop the spread of potentially deadly diseases. We just need your help to carry out this work, to get people the treatments and care they need. To give a helping hand to the #BossNanas like Fatima to keep her family safe and healthy.

[1] https://fts.unocha.org

What you need to know

Our funding target:

Due to the acute emergency situation in Idlib, we are working to provide aid to as many people as we possibly can with your generous support. The situation on the ground is changing day to day and extremely urgent. Therefore CanDo have agreed to this campaign will be run as a keep-it-all fundraising campaign, where if the campaign does not reach its target, the IDA will keep the amount raised and distribute it accordingly. You can find more infomation on this on CanDo's FAQ page.

Distribution of funds:

Due to the urgency, CanDo has agreed to release funds directly to partners for this emergency every three weeks based on assessment of needs.

Match funding:

CanDo has agreed to match EVERY POUND RAISED for this project - meaning people double their impact with every contribution. The total amount raised will be updated each Thursday afternoon and a comment added to share the amount CanDo has matched each week. 

How else can I help: 

There are many ways you can use your voice to make a difference:

Convince two other people to support the campaign and you’ll treble your impact

Host a fundraising dinner with profits coming to this campaign - or take on a challenge to raise money for the cause

Share our message and our campaign to #Rise4Idlib tagging journalists, media outlets and socially-conscious celebrities to help raise awareness of the atrocities happening and the need for the international community to respond