Medical support for communities suffering the effects of war
MedAid enables delivery of medical supplies, mobile doctor services and mental health support in Ukraine
We research and execute impactful allocation of donor funds through collaboration with partners on-the-ground. In conflict zones like Ukraine our vision extends beyond immediate relief to long-term support and reconstruction, allowing sustained benefits for the communities we serve
Medical Supplies to Hospitals
Since spring 2022, MedAid and its founders have provided medical supplies to hospitals in Ukraine struggling to provide care for those wounded in the conflict and for people displaced by the fighting. Moving quickly to identify a Top 20 list of surgical and other items required by most hospitals, the founders located reliable suppliers of medical equipment in Austria, Slovakia and Hungary which we delivered in vans to the Ukrainian border.
Two years on we are still at it, although we now ship directly from Austria to hospitals in Kharkiv and other cities in eastern Ukraine. Over time we have built, tested and operated a 2,000 km supply chain consisting of reliable suppliers and logistic providers, ensuring recorded deliveries to hospitals and field stations close to the front line. In Austria, we also work together with the charity Apotheker Ohne Grenzen (Pharmacies without Borders).
Mobile Medical Services
Since the war began, we've partnered with STEP-IN http://www.stepin.ngo/ a Slovak NGO, providing mobile medical and mental health services in war-torn areas, notably Kharkiv and Dnipro regions. Step-In provides medical consultations and therapy sessions, whilst also training local medics in combat care.
Additionally, we've supported Depaul Ukraine's mobile team aiding traumatized children in Kharkiv oblast's rural areas, and funded winter shelter in tented camps and large-scale shelters.
Mental Health
MedAid co-founded the Lviv-based mental health initiative Moe Kolo ("My Circle") with fintech firm DeepInspire in order to address Ukraine's pressing mental health challenges. Moe Kolo's online therapy sessions, led by a team of 17 therapists, have already had a significant impact, aiding over 3,150 people since its start in early 2023 and confirming the potential of online group therapy.
The feedback from participants has been overwhelmingly positive and the waitlist for future courses is long. With recently received financial support, we will be doubling this capacity in the next 12 months, reaching out to 6,800 victims of the conflict. This is only a start. We are committed to expanding these services, especially for veterans and their families, aiming to support individual and national recovery.
“In summer 2022 MedAid supplied us a new minibus for our mobile team of doctors and pharmacists as we deployed urgently to eastern Ukraine, and then funded the operation of a second mobile team. These teams are now deployed in Kharkhiv oblast and the Dnipro region. We cannot thank them enough.”
Meet the Team
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Ariane Cowley
TRUSTEE
Ariane Cowley has worked as an investment banker and journalist, chronicling changes in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Leaving her career at Lehman Brothers in New York, she spent over a decade living in Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Russia, and traveled extensively in Ukraine as a journalist and investment analyst. She has been involved with numerous charities, currently serving as a trustee of First Year Africa. A Swiss national, Ariane was a John Harvard scholar at Harvard University
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Charles Harman
CO-FOUNDER & TRUSTEE
Charles Harman had a 37 year career in investment banking, most recently as a Vice Chairman of J.P.Morgan. He is currently Deputy Chair of Council and a trustee of the University of Oxford. He is also a trustee of The Big Give and of First Year Africa, a charity which he co-founded to help alleviate high infant mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. He is a director of Peters Fraser & Dunlop (London’s leading independent literary agency) and Klein Constantia Winery
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Eddie Chaloner
MEDICAL ADVISOR
Eddie Chaloner is a recently retired consultant surgeon. After qualifying from Oxford University in 1989 he completed higher professional surgical training in London and South Africa. He served with the British Army and undertook several missions for the HALO Trust, Medicins sans Frontières and other charities. He is a visiting lecturer in the Department of Conflict and Health at Kings College London and St Georges University, London
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Gavin Rankin
CO-FOUNDER & TRUSTEE
Gavin Rankin is a qualified Chartered Accountant and former fund manager with many years financial services experience. He is a Managing Director at WNS Group, providing financial research, analyst and analytics services to banks and investment firms. In the 1990s he spent 10 years building financial service businesses in the Czech Republic and Russia. In addition to MedAid International, he is also a Fundraising board member of the charity Missing People
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Kateryna Karpenko
MEDICAL SUPPLIES LEAD
Kateryna Karpenko is a Cambridge University History graduate. Born and raised in Irpin near Kyiv, she now works in tech in the UK. She maintains close links with hospitals, government and civilian groups across Ukraine. Her father, Oleksandr Karpenko an Orthopedic Traumatologist was Head of the Surgery Department in Irpin City Hospital when Russian troops invaded and destroyed his hospital
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Nicholas Mather
CO-FOUNDER & TRUSTEE
Nicholas Mather is a Managing Director at GlobalData PLC where he runs the economic research business TS Lombard. He was previously managing director of Breakingviews, - the financial commentary service purchased by Reuters. Prior to that, he spent 20 years in investment banking working in Asia, Middle East and Europe. In the 1990s, he lived in Moscow and has travelled extensively across Russia and Ukraine. He read Economics at York University