As Europe goes into lockdown, for the 20,000 refugees stuck on the Greek island of Lesvos, self-isolation is near-impossible. The IRC is providing vital information about COVID-19 for the refugee community living on the Greek islands, and continuing to offer mental health support to those struggling to cope. You can support our work responding to this crisis by making a donation.

“Our teams are doing an amazing job – but they need to do an even bigger job. And for that, we need your help.” Watch this message from International Rescue Committee president & CEO David Miliband about our COVID-19 response and how you can make a difference. You can support our work responding to this crisis by making a donation.

COVID-19 affects everyone, including over 194,000 refugees at the Kakuma refugee camp. IRC staff in Kenya share community concerns about COVID-19 and how our teams are working hard to keep beneficiaries and staff safe. The International Rescue Committee helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover and gain control of their future.

IRC health clinic in the Zaatari refugee camp remains open despite a national lockdown in Jordan in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This IRC volunteer delivers vital medicine to refugees while following heightened safety measures.

  Health workers put their lives at risk to save others. They are working to slow the spread of COVID-19 among refugees and displaced people around the world. The IRC celebrates them today and every day. 

Game of Thrones actor and IRC Voice Lena Headey, at home in London, caught up with IRC psychologist Kiki Michailidou in Greece to hear how refugees she had met on her visits there were coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. Lena asked Kiki how anyone could self-isolate in a crowded refugee camp—it must be impossible. "It is impossible," Kiki told her. Watch their conversation and learn how you can help.

His Royal Highness, The Former Prince of Wales, said the IRC is working in those countries where the situation is most grave, where people are the most vulnerable and where this virus threatens to run riot and wreak utter havoc – if we let it.

Ahlan Simsim, created by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Sesame Workshop, is an early childhood development program that gives millions of refugee and displaced children and their families in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq the support they need to cope with crises and build a brighter future. The program has adapted to COVID-19 by providing caregivers with learning activities for their children via WhatsApp.

We’re staying home to stay safe for as long as it takes. But how can you stay home if home isn’t a choice? Over 70 million refugees and displaced people are at risk of a crisis-level the COVID-19 pandemic has not yet seen. We can stay home and still come together to make a difference.

Nine years of conflict have devastated Syria's health system, which now faces the threat of COVID-19. Hear from a doctor working in a clinic run by the IRC in the region and how medical teams there are responding to the pandemic.