CARE and our partners help provide lifesaving care and restore essential health services when crises disrupt communities.
When conflict, disaster, or displacement strikes, health systems are often among the first to collapse.
Clinics close. Medical supplies run out. Health workers are unable to reach the people who need them most. Pregnancy and childbirth become far more dangerous, violence and exploitation increase, and people living with chronic conditions lose access to essential care.
Women’s and girls’ health is particularly at risk during crises. At least 1 in 5 women experiences sexual violence in emergency settings, and harmful coping strategies such as survival sex increase sharply. Around 60% of preventable maternal deaths occur during emergencies.
In these contexts, access to health services is critical not only for survival but also for protection and dignity.
CARE’s goal is to ensure communities can access lifesaving care quickly. We also aim to support the recovery of essential health services as stability returns, with a particular focus on women and girls.
How CARE supports health in emergencies
CARE works with local partners, frontline community health workers, and governments to deliver urgent care while helping communities rebuild stronger health systems. Our approach is people-centered, practical, and rooted in local leadership.
We focus on:
Delivering urgent, lifesaving health services
Through mobile clinics, emergency health posts, and community outreach, CARE provides safe childbirth support, reproductive health care, treatment for common illnesses, and access to essential medicines.
Supporting frontline community health workers
CARE and our partners train, equip, and mentor health workers. Our goal is to help ensure they can continue delivering safe, high-quality care during emergencies, even in hard-to-reach areas.
Restoring disrupted health services
We help repair damaged facilities, restock medical supplies, and strengthen service delivery so communities can regain access to routine care as soon as possible.
Protecting women and girls
CARE and our partners integrate protection into all health responses, ensuring safe access to services and connecting survivors of violence to care and support.
Partnering with local responders
Local organizations and frontline health workers are closest to communities in crisis. CARE works alongside them to coordinate assistance, extend reach, and ensure support is tailored to local needs.
Health in emergencies in practice
Since the onset of the conflict in Sudan, access to basic services, including health care, water, sanitation, and nutrition, has been severely disrupted.
Through the MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience project, CARE works with partners to strengthen the capacity of local institutions to plan, manage, and deliver quality maternal and newborn health and water, sanitation, and hygiene services.
The project supports circuit riders - water system technicians who regularly inspect and maintain community water infrastructure - to restore water and sanitation services in hard-to-reach areas and strengthen long-term resilience.
