„BECAUSE WAR DOES NOT JUST DESTROY COMMUNITIES, IT DESTROYS HOPE.“
OUR PROJECTS
The long-term benefits of providing a network of local and global experts for reconstructive surgery to people wounded by conflict are undeniable. Complex surgeries, however, require years of experience at every level of care so sustainable solutions can leverage electronic tools to bring global expertise locally.
Centre for complex care that are near the wounded and attract humanitarians from a variety of disciplines. These centres must focus on low and middle-income countries that have the greatest burdens and needs, and the poor who would otherwise have no hope of help.
SWISSCROSS CENTRE FOR COMPLEX CARE ERBIL, IRAQ
The Swisscross Foundation has partnered with UAE Aid to mobilize volunteer surgeons and medical professionals from around the world to begin humanitarian reconstructive surgical procedures in November 2021 in Erbil, Iraq.
The Kurdistan Region of Iraq, with more than 300,000 persons in IDP and refugee camps and 700,000 vulnerable persons in community, has a dense population of people with neglected injuries due to the circumstances of war. Working with local partners, Swisscross quickly received hundreds of requests for care and will begin surgery in November 2021.
MAIWAND TEACHING HOSPITAL, KABUL, AFGHANISTAN.
Building upon decades of experience in providing surgical care to vulnerable populations, Swisscross extended its mission of delivering life-changing reconstructive surgery to Afghanistan in 2024, partnering with local healthcare providers to reach those most in need. Under the leadership of our Founder and Chair, Dr. Enrique Steiger, Swisscross brings over two decades of experience in humanitarian surgery to the region. Dr. Steiger has worked extensively with the Maiwand Teaching Hospital (KUMS). This long-standing relationship and deep understanding of the local healthcare landscape uniquely position Swisscross to make a meaningful impact.
In recognition of our commitment and expertise, Swisscross was invited by local authorities to support and enhance surgical services in the country. Guided by our core values of impartiality and humanitarianism, we aim to provide critical medical care to patients who otherwise lack access to essential reconstructive surgeries. Swisscross has a commitment to tackle some of the most challenging cardiovascular cases as well at The Institute of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Diseases in Kabul.
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CREEW-MENA hosted by GHI will be the regional center and the hub for other CREEW centers to be established in different regions of the world.
This fellowship will equip frontline health practitioners from conflict zones or seeking to work in conflict zones with the necessary skills that would enable them to conduct research into the relationship between health and war. The empirical data would be used by CREEW to produce thematic guidelines and policy briefs that inform policy makers and health professionals alike.
CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
IN THE ECOLOGY OF WAR (CREEW)
BEIRUT, LEBANON
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Swisscross believes that the answer lies in mobile technologies capacity to push data collection deep into the last mile where the people in need, or the friends they trust, can upload raw data that will power humanitarian organizations to collect, organize and analyze primordial data and build a better picture of actual events as they unfold.
The Swisscross Electronic Triage Tool is a multi-language, scalable application that allows those most in need to send information to healthcare workers who might be able to help.
ELECTRONIC PATIENT TRIAGE TOOL
GLOBAL
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Swisscross was partnered with ICRC to provide surgical expertise and advice on materials and methods for maxillofacial, plastic, & reconstructive surgery. Swisscross made their last mission to WTTC in February 2020 just before the COVID pandemic forced the shutdown of the centre.
WEAPONS, TRAUMAOLOGY, AND TRAINING CENTRE (INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS)
BEIRUT, LEBANON
COLLABORATORS
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UAE Aid is a philanthropic partner to the Erbil, Iraq Centre of Excellence for Complex Care for 2021-2022 providing financing to bring humanitarian reconstructive surgery to vulnerable populations in northern Iraq.
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Working with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and UNODC Goodwill Ambassador Nadia Murad through her charitable initiative, Swisscross is able to access victims of war, genocide, and gender violence in western Iraq to provide complex care.
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Global Women Leaders is a community of women leveraging their collective skills, influence, and expertise to improve the wellbeing of people living in the world's most neglected crises. They have partnered with Swisscross to help us access institutional philanthropic funding.
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Swisscross works with the Barzani Charity Foundation to connect some of northern Iraq’s most vulnerable populations, in IDP and refugee camps, to our Centre of Excellence in Complex Care in Erbil.
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A joint program between Swisscross and AUB, the Center for Research and Education in the Ecology of War (CREEW) fellowship equips frontline health practitioners working in conflicts settings with the necessary skills that would enable them to conduct research into the relationship between health and war..
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EurAsia Heart Foundation is a Swiss-based NGO that consists of a group of European doctors and nurses who work on cardiovascular diseases in children, adolescents and adults. The foundation's doctors and nursing specialists are involved in continuous, further training cooperation in developing and emerging countries according to the principle of “helping people to help themselves”.
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Swisscross partnered with the ICRC to bring surgical specialists to the Weapons Traumatology and Training Centre in Lebanon and continues to work with them to facilitate care for weapon wounded in Iraq.
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Flatten is a non-profit organization focused on developing an agile, inexpensive and robust self-reporting participatory syndromic surveillance tool for the COVID-19 pandemic internationally with the aim to broaden epidemiological data-collection processes. Swisscross collaborated with them to bring a data surveillance tool to Mogadishu, Somalia during the COVID pandemic and build our own electronic triage tool.
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Kispi the largest pediatric and pediatric surgery center in Switzerland and one of the leading centers in the world. They treat and care for children and young people, support them in their development and look after them together with their families.