John, a single shot can help save a life.
Just ask Mebratu,
who is helping to deliver vaccines to children in Ethiopia:
Mebratu Gebreselassie, who works as a vaccinator, at the Qenef outreach site in Adi Hutsa village, Ethiopia.
"Because of the war, there are children who weren't able to receive the vaccine shot that was supposed to have been given at 45 days old. Illnesses which had been eradicated many years ago were seen to reappear en masse." —Mebratu
John, war is a recent memory for families in Tigray, Ethiopia. Tens of thousands are estimated to have been killed in the civil war between 2020 and 2022.
But there are second-order casualties, too: the children who, because of the violence, were unable to get the vaccines they needed.
With your support, the IRC is working to close this gap—and Mebratu is on the front lines.
Mebratu works at the government hospital, which is supported by the IRC and Gavi, the vaccine alliance. He often travels five or six hours on foot or by mule to remote villages, carrying vaccines in scorching heat, sometimes without water to drink.
On his first outreach trip to Hemore station, he was greeted by emotional mothers:
"They kept telling us that it was getting better before the outbreak of war, but now their children were becoming sick and dying after vaccination ceased...
Seeing how deeply the mothers understood and were striving to have their children vaccinated was something I will not be able to forget for the rest of my life."
Through the IRC's partnership with Gavi, Mebratu and his colleagues received support with transport, training and outreach campaigns, which allowed them to resume vaccinations and protect thousands of children—work he describes as lifesaving and vital for the community's future.
John, your generosity powers this kind of lifesaving work in Ethiopia and more than 40 countries around the world. Please make your year-end gift to the IRC today while you can still make 5X the impact.
—Hank @ IRC
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