Hammer forum
| Hammer Forum Medical Aid for Children | |
|---|---|
| legal form | registered association |
| founding | March 12, 1991 |
| Seat | Hamm (Westphalia) |
| purpose | Medical help for children in crisis areas |
| Chair | Theophylaktos Emmanouilidis |
| Website | hammer-forum.de |
The Hammer Forum ( Hammer Forum Medical Aid for Children eV ) is an aid organization that provides medical help for children in crisis areas. The club was founded on March 12, 1991 during the second Gulf War by doctors and citizens of the city of Hamm .
aims
The association wants to improve and secure the medical care of sick and injured children from war and crisis areas. Aid is given regardless of religion, nationality or gender of the person in need, so it is strictly committed to the principle of neutrality.
Since it was founded, more than 750,000 children have received medical care in their home countries and more than 1,800 children have been flown to Germany for medical care. The children who receive such individual aid in Germany are usually between 4 and 13 years old. You will be accommodated in host families for the duration of your stay in Germany and will be looked after by them in the event of inpatient treatment. After the treatment has been completed, the children are flown back to their home countries. Starting with the war victims from Iraq , children from Afghanistan , Albania , Angola , Bosnia , Burkina Faso , Eritrea , Georgia , Guinea , Guinea-Bissau , Ingushetia , Yemen , DR Congo , Kosovo , Palestine , Sierra Leone , Sri Lanka , South Sudan , Medical care for Syria , Chechnya and Uganda .
The organization also carries out medical development projects in the countries of assignment in order to reduce the number of treatment trips to Germany and to improve local care.
Foundation and support association
In 2007 the association set up the Hammer Forum International Children's Aid Foundation. As early as 1995, the Association of Friends and Patrons of Hammer Forum e. V. founded. Since then, the association has supported the work through public relations, the organization of events and donations. The membership fees are completely forwarded to the Hammer Forum.
Projects
The project is currently supporting stations in Burkina Faso, the DR Congo, Eritrea, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau (development), Yemen, Palestine, South Sudan and Syria. The projects follow the principle of helping people to help themselves . Training and further training of local doctors and nursing staff is therefore part of the regular program of foreign missions. For this purpose, inpatient facilities are being created whose management is initially in the hands of the German staff, but who recruit the rest of the staff from among the local residents. These employees are then trained and instructed so that they can take over the facility later.
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in Africa. The situation has worsened due to the war refugees from neighboring Mali. Almost every fifth child dies before the age of five. Since 2014 the Hammer Forum has been involved in setting up a surgical aid station for children in Quahigouya, in the north of the country. In Burkina Faso, the association cooperates with the Center Hospitalier Regional (CHR), the Ministry of Health, the local aid organization AMPO and the partnership association Lahnstein-Venice-Ouahigouya eV Twice a year a medical team travels to Ouahigouya to examine sick and injured children. to treat and operate. Local doctors also receive further training. In “Haus Linda” of the partner organization AMPO, they want to help sick and especially malnourished children.
Eritrea
The association has been active in Eritrea since July 1995. During the first trip, eleven children were brought to Germany for treatment from Schwidtal. In 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2000 further visits to treat patients took place on site. In this context, transports to Germany were carried out again and again. Today, such transports are only necessary in rare individual cases. In 2001, a ward for burn injuries was finally set up in Asmara, which was supplemented in 2002 by the opening of the International Operations Center for Children in Asmara (IOCCA). A year later the establishment of a neonatology followed; 2005 the opening of a maternity clinic. During this time, more helpers were sent to Eritrea to support the center on site. In October and November 2005, teams from Italy and Austria carried out surgical interventions for the first time in the International Operation Center for Children in Asmara. Today the HAMMER FORUM has two main project areas in Eritrea: obstetrics and the treatment of burn injured children. The main focus of the obstetrics team is, among other things, practical guidance and theoretical training for doctors and midwives, initial examinations of newborns and the timely treatment of complications and congenital diseases. In addition to obstetrics, the Hammer Forum has been focusing on the treatment of burn injuries since 1999. The use of open flames for cooking, kerosene stoves and oil lamps repeatedly leads to serious domestic accidents, which mainly affect women and children. In order to treat burn injuries, the Hammer Forum opened a burn unit with 17 beds and its own operating wing in 2008, so that complicated interventions can be carried out on site.
Guinea
In Madina, the organization took over the reconstruction and initial equipment of the devastated Madina health center in Gueckedou . The facility was looted several times during the Liberian civil war because it is located on the border with Liberia . She resumed her work in September 2003 and since then has been continuously supplied with consumables and supported in her work by a doctor from Germany. The health center now has a general outpatient clinic, a delivery room and preventive medical checkups for pregnant women, as well as a department for carrying out the comprehensive state vaccination program. Visits to schools and conversations with patients in health centers found that knowledge of hygiene, disease prevention, nutrition and the like was often poor. For this reason, an education program on these topics was started in schools in 2004. Health education was expanded to include other schools in the Guéckédou region and supplemented: 1) Health education and upbringing 2) Medical check-ups for school children including drug treatment for endemic infectious diseases and 3) Measures to raise awareness and promote hygiene behavior in schools.
In 2012, another project to promote mother-child health services was launched in Forest Guinea . This was developed and implemented in cooperation with the local partner organization Espoir Santé. Four selected state health centers located in the hard-to-reach periphery are being strengthened. The aim is to enable them to offer primary health services and preventive measures for children, pregnant women and young mothers. To do this, it was first necessary to improve the medical infrastructure, which had been decaying for years: the mother-child departments of the health centers were refurbished, essential basic equipment was provided and a solar system was installed on the roof of each of the four health centers. This means that childbirth and emergencies do not have to take place during the night in the weak light of a dangerous kerosene lamp and a refrigerator can be operated for vaccines and medication. Health advisors inform the widely dispersed population about the new offers. The medical staff in the health centers receive regular training.
Guinea-Bissau
In October 2016, the Hammer Forum carried out an evaluation trip to Guinea-Bissau. The medical team visited various hospitals in the country: the Simao Mendes National Hospital (University Hospital), the Mansôa Regional Hospital, the Caritas Children's Hospital Sao José de Bôr, the Bafatá Regional Hospital and the Gabú Regional Hospital. A project for medical help for children is to be set up in Gabú . Health care in Guinea-Bissau is generally deficient, this affects both the infrastructure and the so-called human resources, as well as the training and competence of the staff.
Yemen
The association has been committed to sick and injured children in Yemen since 1997. With the Al Thawra Hospital in Taiz, the second largest city in the country, a clinic has been found that is not only centrally located, but is also ready for reforms. In addition to individual medical help for children through the use of surgical teams on site, the Hammer Forum also contributes to the implementation of the UN Millennium Development Goals. B. in the area of reducing child and maternal mortality in the country. In cooperation between the project and the Al Thawra Hospital in Yemen, the first and only specialist ward for burn injuries in Yemen, four operating theaters and a pediatric trauma surgery ward have been built since 2003. The forum also supports obstetrics, neonatology, the radiology department, the hospital pharmacy and the clinic's laboratory. As part of the sustainability of its offers of help, the Hammer Forum also trains physiotherapists as well as nurses and midwives. The armed conflicts in Yemen make it difficult for the medical teams to enter. As soon as the unrest subsides, medical teams are expected to travel to Yemen again.
DR Congo
In August 2003 a delegation traveled to the Congo for a fortnight to visit the hospitals and to provide first aid. A number of patients were brought to Germany for treatment. In 2005, the decision was made to renovate and equip the operating theaters and the outpatient department in Kinshasa , namely in the General Hospital with 1,800 beds. However, this project was not implemented because the surgeons did not agree to treat patients free of charge in future. They wanted - as before - to keep 40% of the surgery price to themselves. So the HAMMER FORUM looked for other premises and finally found it in the university. A contract with the university and the government was drawn up and also provided for the later handover of the operating rooms and the ambulance. But shortly after the renovation work began, the project was canceled. The reason for this were fee claims that were raised by the university in violation of the contract. In August 2008, 500 km further east of Kinshasa, in the city of Kikwit, a contract was signed for a collaboration between the Hammer Forum and the General Hospital de Reference Kikwit (HGRK). A children's outpatient clinic was set up on the hospital grounds, treating 30–50 children a day, who mainly suffer from malaria, bronchial and diarrheal diseases and parasitosis. Many patients are malnourished. In addition to the employees of the Hammer Forum, local doctors and nurses take care of the outpatients and around 30 inpatients. Two to three times a year, children are operated on by German doctors in collaboration with their Congolese colleagues.
Palestine
The Hammer Forum has been cooperating with the "Palestine Medical Relief Society" (PMRS), a recognized NGO in the West Bank and partner organization of other German aid organizations (e.g. medeor eV), since 2014. In October 2014, the Hammer Forum was able to send approx. 960 kg of medical aid supplies to Gaza by air. However, it was only after a lot of effort and effort that they were able to leave Tel Aviv Airport for Gaza in May 2015. Since 2015 the Hammer Forum has also been working with the Palestine Childrens Relief Fund, also a recognized American NGO. A medical team flies to Gaza twice a year to carry out complicated interventions on the spot.
South Sudan
3,000 school children and young people aged 3 to 15 live in the Munuki district of the capital Juba. The project aims to give them access to basic health services and promote disease prevention and health education. Since the beginning of 2013, a local partner has been building a health center in the immediate vicinity of a school and a kindergarten in South Sudan. In the future, 1,000 examinations per month can be carried out here. In order to close existing knowledge gaps in the staff, u. a. Doctors of the forum carry out advanced training. The focus will be on the diagnosis and treatment of endemic diseases as well as health education. Together with the Ministry of Health and parents' representatives, five to six schools are selected. These partner schools receive health and hygiene instruction from local medical staff with the active participation of school children. The project in South Sudan was completed due to its independence. The health center that has been set up is enjoying growing popularity and is now working independently, so that the project can be ended.
Syria
The association has been supporting the Aleppo City Medical Council (ACMC) with medical aid since 2012. The ACMC is an association of 75 doctors and pharmacists who treat injured and sick people underground. But everything is missing: bandages, painkillers, anesthetics. From the beginning, hospitals and medical practices were targets of bombing and fire attacks. In the past, 1.5 tons of drugs and medical consumables, an ambulance and four emergency kits have already been brought to Syria.
Tanzania
In February 2017, a medical team flew to Ifunda for a relief mission. Among other things, children with burn injuries and club feet were examined, treated and operated on.
partner
Partner hospitals
The association is supported by a number of partner hospitals in the treatment of children from the operational areas. These include the following hospitals:
The Marien-Krankenhaus Ahaus-Vreden GmbH, the Malteser-Krankenhaus in Hamm, the Charlottenstift in Stadtoldendorf , the Lutherhaus in Essen , the Marienhospital Osnabrück , the Evangelical Hospital Düsseldorf , the Marienkrankenhaus Trier , the Klinikum St. Marien in Amberg , the Katharinen- Hospital in Willich and the Johanneum Hospital in Wildeshausen .
Other clinics and hospitals all over Germany work with the Hammer Forum again and again.
Partner organization and authorities
The association works with various organizations and foundations on its projects: with the Karl Bröcker Foundation, the Forum for Environment and Just Development e. V., Development of Eritrea e. V., the Association of German Children's Heart Centers e. V., the Malteser Hilfsdienst e. V., the joint association that helps Action Germany , the Swiss support committee for Eritrea and Hilfmit.eu.
There are also state organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) Region Europe, the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany and the European Office for Humanitarian Aid .
The Hammer Forum is a member of INTEGRA (German Network for Overcoming Female Genital Mutilation).
Web links
Footnotes
- ^ Yemen: Hammer Forum eV Accessed March 31, 2017 .
- ^ South Sudan: Hammer Forum eV Accessed March 31, 2017 .
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from January 31, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://fuge-hamm.org/
