World Refugee Day is celebrated on 20 June every year in order to explain the situation of refugees to people. According to the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the number of people forced to leave their homes due to war, violence and persecution has doubled in the last 10 years and reached 82.4 million.
As Yeryüzü Doktorları, we conduct projects on refugee health in order to prevent the problems of displaced people in accessing healthcare services and to help them overcome their traumas.
Since the first day of Syrian War, we have been providing psychosocial support and healthcare services to both the Syrians under temporary protection in Turkey and the people still living in Syria. As a humanitarian aid association, we carry out health projects for refugees in other countries as well as refugees in Turkey. In this context, we provide medical support for Rohingya refugees who had to migrate to Bangladesh in Thaingkhali refugee camp, in Sido refugee camp where refugees took refuge in Chad after the Central African crisis, and in Somalia where there are internal refugees.
We Provided Health Services to 127,137 Refugees in 2020
As Yeryüzü Doktorları, we provided primary health care services to a total of 115 thousand 903 people in 2020 in our refugee health clinics in Bangladesh, Somalia, Chad and Syria. For asylum seekers/refugees coming to Turkey, we provided psychosocial support services to 11,234 people in our centers in Istanbul, Hatay, Şanlıurfa, Gaziantep and Kilis.
Making statements about the World Refugee Day, our Chairman of the Board of Directors Yahyahan Güney M.D. said, “Every day, thousands of people in different geographies are forced to leave their homes and countries to live a safer life. According to reports, 9 out of 10 IDPs live in low and middle-income countries adjacent to crisis areas. At the same time, they are struggling with drought, hygiene deficiency and access to clean water. Permanent steps should be taken to protect refugees and to meet their basic needs, especially in the field of health, and to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Turkey continues to set an example to the world with its hospitality towards refugees. Currently, approximately 3 million 700 thousand refugees live in Turkey. We, as Yeryüzü Doktorları, provide services to reach refugees both in our country and all over the world, to facilitate their access to health services, which have become even more essential. We would like to remind you that it is the responsibility of all of us globally to improve living conditions and solve problems completely for refugees. We hope that the host countries will work more each passing day by focusing on more quantitative and qualified solutions and aiming to create a more reliable future for these people.”