Launch of a new support program for refugees and displaced persons

Last year, the Foundation launched a new funding programme to support projects for the protection and improvement of the health of refugees and vulnerable people in conflict regions.

In response to the call, 25 project applications were submitted and assessed by the review panel. At the request of the panel, the foundation board approved the funding of the following four projects totalling CHF 2.6 million in November 2023:

• Swiss Red Cross: Removing barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive health services in centres for displaced people from Rakhine State in Bangladesh
• Swisspeace: Supporting the psychosocial and psychological wellbeing of displaced Syrian women struggling with complex loss in Syria, Lebanon and Germany
• FAIRMED: War, displacement, economic and food crises, and disease – overcoming multiple stresses on the way to better health and wellbeing by improving gender equality in Jaffna and Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka.
• Swiss TPH: Democratisation of measures against neglected tropical diseases through “citizen science” to improve women’s health in a precarious environment at Lake Chad, Chad

What we support:

2019 - 2022

From the previous programme period, Swiss TPH’s “SysRef” project for a digital system to improve healthcare for refugees in Chad came to a successful conclusion in 2023. In collaboration with the local health authorities and the UN Refugee Agency, Swiss TPH developed a digital tool that facilitates the clinical diagnosis and treatment of diseases for local medical staff and improves the quality of therapy. The digital solution was tested and successfully introduced in three health centres in the Goré district in southern Chad on the border with the Central African Republic, particularly for the treatment of children and the care of pregnant women. The app was tested in 26 000 medical consultations for infants and will be introduced by the participating organisations in other health centres in the Central African region and beyond in the future.

The Foundation Board has reworked its priorities for Conflict and Violence and Medical Research grants. From 2019 – 2022 these two fields of support are joined to support two projects by the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (STPH).

The project “Digital System for a Better Health Care Management of Refugees” (SysRef) aims to improve the quality of health care for refugees and displaced people in Chad and places with comparable circumstances. The project researches measures for the development and implementation of digital tools to deliver better health care management. This includes the improvement of diagnosis and treatment of infections and other health problems, the registration of vaccines, the monitoring of vaccination status, as well as collection and assessment of epidemiological data.

The second project, “NIIDS” develops a novel diagnosis and monitoring system for infectious diseases in refugee camps. The project’s objective is to develop a new, comprehensive evidence platform with the goal of improving diagnostics and treatment. New diagnostic procedures will be established in the refugee camps and the adjoining hospitals, with local medical personnel trained accordingly. An integrated diagnosis system with a comprehensive database for regionally prevalent diseases will be used to monitor illnesses (and outbreaks of disease) in refugee camps. This data supports patient management with new digital tools as well as the targeted development of cost-effective rapid diagnosis tests to deploy in the field.

No grant applications will be accepted in the sector of medical research outside of this collaboration.

2014 – 2018

The Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation collaborated with the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences (SAMA) in the field of palliative care during the period of 2014 – 2018. Together with the SAMW and the Gottfried and Julia Bangerter-Rhyner Foundation, we promoted research into palliative care in Switzerland, jointly providing funds of some CHF 1.6 Million (with the Johnson Foundation contributing CHF 600,000) per year. Applications for funding were made directly to the SAMS and assessed by a committee of experts.