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Order of Malta healthcare and social services leaders call for action: ‘We cannot say tomorrow. Your name is today’

Forty senior organisers in Cologne examine and extend healthcare programmes

Cologne, 15 March 2015

Senior Order of Malta health and social care leaders meet in Cologne

The annual meeting of the Order of Malta’s leaders in the organisation’s health and social welfare programmes around the world took place this weekend, examining their global activities and putting a spotlight on areas of great concern. Speakers for Iraq, Lebanon, Ukraine and Russia outlined their current programmes, describing the suffering that these movements of peoples, of refugees and IDPs bring, both for themselves and their host countries, and the work currently in place to support them. The demand is great and in the case of large movements of refugees, such as those from Syria to Lebanon, it will not go away.

The Order of Malta is on the ground in all of these theatres of action, caring for the displaced, the traumatised, the bewildered victims of conflicts not of their making.

We cannot say tomorrow. Your name is today!

All these programmes aid those in urgent need. The need is now. The need is today.

In addition, actions to support the homeless and the very poor are being extended in the Western world and the Americas; support for famine-stricken populations in Africa include microfinance programmes and health and hygiene training. In central and South America, in Asia, in central Europe, programmes for disaster risk reduction are being stepped up with a special focus on psycho-social support and sustainable construction.

The Order of Malta is present in 120 countries. Its aim is to care for the poor and the sick, with complete neutrality.

Photo: (Copyright: African Visuals Media/Malteser International).