NAAMA Endorses Mission to Serve Iraqi Refugees in Jordan

A group of concerned students and faculty from Georgetown, Harvard, and Stanford are currently organizing a medical mission in Jordan to serve the needs of the sizable population of Iraqi refugees that have fled Iraq over the past few years. We are seeking to connect medical professionals from the United States to local healthcare providers in an effort to strengthen their capacity to treat refugees. Dr. Saad Shakir will be collaborating closely with our efforts. Members of our team are currently in Amman and have secured strong interest from local and international NGOs operating in the country, including International Medical Corps, UNHCR, and the Jordanian Red Crescent, for this project. We are now calling on experienced and concerned healthcare professionals of all specialties to volunteer their time for this medical mission. Specifically, volunteers will be asked to conduct lectures, trainings, consultations, and workshops for healthcare professionals on the ground in an effort to enhance their ability to treat refugees, see refugee patients in conjunction with local doctors, and raise awareness of health care issues in the community.

This project builds on a medical partnership project that has been organized in Syria, which is taking place right now (it runs from May 10-June 10) and connects US-trained health care personnel (doctors, nurses, and therapists) to groups providing services to Palestinian and Iraqi refugees in Damascus. Twenty five volunteer medical professionals (12 doctors, 3 nurses, 4 counselors/therapists/public health specialists, 3 pharmacists, and 3 translators) with a wide range of background and expertise are participating in this mission and have provided over 50 workshops, lectures, and trainings. They are being led by Dr. Shakir. The project has featured partnerships with UNHCR, UNRWA, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, UNICEF, the Union of Palestinian Doctors, and a host of local NGOs and clinics and was approved by the Syrian Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Health, and Higher Education.

We call upon all doctors, nurses, health care professionals, and others interested to participate in the Jordan mission, which will take place from July 19 to August 6, 2009. Volunteers are welcome to participate during any period of at least one week during this window. Given the multitude of diverse challenges facing the refugee communities, all specialties are welcome, though mental health and psycho-social experts are especially needed. Our partners have also expressed a strong need for general practitioners and those with expertise in public health, emergency medicine, elderly care, & dermatology.

Due to financial constraints, volunteers will be asked to cover their own costs. However, limited funding might later become available, as fundraising efforts are currently underway. Those with significant clinical experience in areas of need might also be able to receive partial funding from our partner organizations.

If interested, please send your CV and a brief cover letter summarizing your relevant experiences to Mohammad Al-Moumen (mmoumen@stanford.edu) and Omar Shakir (oss@georgetown.edu). Please feel free to also direct any other questions to naama@naama.com.