World Vision delivers aid within Ukraine

World Vision delivers food and supplies within Ukraine following urgent appeal from hospital

•    Food items and basic supplies delivered to hospital with more to follow in the coming days
•    Need for basic food and hygiene supplies for families affected by the Ukraine crisis is increasing at a rapid rate
•    World Vision plans essential psycho-social and educational support as well as basic need supplies

7 March 2022 - International aid organisation World Vision yesterday delivered much-needed food and medical supplies to a hospital in Ukraine, as the nation struggles to survive the current conflict. 

Having worked in Romania for over three decades, World Vision’s locally led team of 350 Romanians has been able to launch a response into Ukraine since the onset of the conflict, and entered  nation to deliver two van-loads of food and hospital supplies, to the 600-bed hospital which had issued an urgent plea for help to its sister town in Romania, Siret.

World Vision Australia CEO Daniel Wordsworth, who accompanied the shipment, said the conflict in Ukraine was starting to take an awful toll on supplies of staple items, including medical and hospital goods within the country.

“We’re hearing from within Ukraine that people are desperate for food. On top of the hospitals facing supply-chain issues to cope with their normal patient-load, they are coming under added pressure as people fleeing their homes flock to hospitals as safe havens, to seek food and shelter. Hospital supplies are already dangerously low, and there are real fears that food will become a critical issue within coming weeks."

The cross-border humanitarian delivery came after World Vision met with the mayor of Siret to offer help with the refugee response, as the Romanian border town welcomed hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian migrants fleeing the conflict.

“The people we met there were showing clear signs of emotional distress,” Daniel said. “These are people who don’t have connections, don’t have much money or means to get across the border and so are in great need of emergency assistance. Our team are meeting refugees who have crossed the border with just the clothes on their back.”

World Vision has been working around the clock with local leaders to find ways to meet the urgent need for food, medical supplies and other goods and get them to children and patients in hospitals, in particular.

World Vision's humanitarian delivery included hospital supplies such as mattresses, pillows, sheets, towels, soap and disinfectant, as well as food items such as pasta, grains, rice, oil, condensed milk and canned meat to hungry children and families. 

World Vision’s Regional Leader for Middle East and Eastern Europe Eleanor Monbiot OBE said:

“World Vision was already responding to the refugee crisis, the scale of which was growing by the day. World Vision has been supporting refugees since the outset with water, food, hygiene and child-friendly kits, as well as heaters to the mother-and-child rest stations at the border. We also plan to provide psychological first aid to children and individuals arriving from Ukraine through a group of 45 Ukrainian-speaking psychologists. ”