Donate

Humanitarian Missions

When the world needs Israeli medical help, Israel sends Sheba Medical Center.

Global Humanitarianism is at Our Core

Humanitarian aid has been a part of Sheba Medical Center’s mission since its establishment in 1948.

When natural disasters and humanitarian crises strike, the Israel Center for Disaster Medicine and Humanitarian Response at Sheba Medical Center immediately mobilizes and lives are saved.

Over the years, Sheba has initiated successful projects in all fields of medicine and have collaborated with national and international organizations in underserved regions.

These projects include treating patients and training medical personnel on site and bringing complex patients to Israel for continued care and treatment at Sheba.

Explore Sheba’s impact around the world with our interactive map! Click a pin to learn more about the mission.

Global Activities

DISASTER DEPLOYMENT HUMANITARIAN MISSIONS TEACHING & RESEARCH

Kenya

January 30, 2023
Sheba & U.S. Navy Conduct Medical Training & Mass Casualty Drills with Kenyan Navy
Teaching + Research

Learn More

Congo

July 18, 2010
Burn treatment and plastic surgeries after a fire
Disaster Deployment
Humanitarian Missions

Learn More

Eq. Guinea

March 21, 2022
Pediatric surgeries after an explosion
Humanitarian Missions

Learn More

Ethiopia

April 12, 2022
Treating civil war victims
Humanitarian Missions

Learn More

Greece

September 24, 2020
Medical aid for refugees after a fire
Disaster Deployment
Humanitarian Missions

Learn More

Guatemala

June 11, 2018
Help volcano victims
Humanitarian Missions

Learn More

Haiti

April 7, 2022
Treat burn victims and train physicians
Humanitarian Missions
Teaching + Research

Learn More

Italy

December 1, 2020
Help contain Coivd spread
Humanitarian Missions

Learn More

Mongolia

July 10, 2018
ENT surgery
Humanitarian Missions

Learn More

Mozambique

March 28, 2019
Medical, psychological and wash aid after a storm
Disaster Deployment
Humanitarian Missions

Learn More

Nepal

April 25, 2015
Disaster Deployment

Learn More

Nigeria

November 10, 2020
Pediatric cardiac surgery and train doctors
Humanitarian Missions
Teaching + Research

Learn More

Palestinian Authority

July 12, 2022
Disaster Deployment
Teaching + Research
Humanitarian Missions

Learn More

Papua New Guinea

February 26, 2018
Earthquake
Humanitarian Missions

Learn More

Peru

January 20, 2022
Medical training
Teaching + Research

Learn More

Romania

November 5, 2021
Covid aid
Humanitarian Missions

Learn More

Samoa

October 1, 2019
Measles outbreak
Disaster Deployment
Humanitarian Missions

Learn More

Sri Lanka

July 25, 2020
Combat Covid
Humanitarian Missions

Learn More

Tanzania

November 1, 2020
Improve life on the ground
Humanitarian Missions
Teaching + Research

Learn More

Tonga

January 16, 2022
Volcanic eruption & tsunami
Disaster Deployment

Turkmenistan

January 12, 2022
Covid aid
Humanitarian Missions

Uganda

August 21, 2018
Medical aid
Humanitarian Missions

Learn More

Ukraine

March 5, 2022
Disaster Deployment
Humanitarian Missions
Teaching + Research

Learn More

Uruguay

March 18, 2021
Covid aid
Humanitarian Missions

Learn More

Uzbekistan

July 28, 2022
Nursing industry
Teaching + Research

Learn More

Zambia

January 8, 2018
Cholera outbreak
Disaster Deployment
Humanitarian Missions

Learn More

Nigeria II

January 8, 2023
The five-day mission dedicated to improving health outcomes for pediatric eye-cancer patients.
Humanitarian Missions

Learn More

Some of Sheba's Recent Humanitarian Relief Efforts:

Problem: People were dying mercilessly from a fatal cholera outbreak.

Treatment: Sheba set up a field hospital to treat infected victims and built a specialized lab to research the pandemic.

Outcome: Sheba identified and contained the source of the outbreak and prevented additional people from drinking contaminated water, which saved countless lives.

Photo: Sheba medical expert cares for Zambian baby in January 2018.


Problem: Untreated cataracts were causing helpless villagers in remote areas to go blind.

Treatment: Sheba’s doctors performed over 80 life-transforming eye surgeries aboard a ship’s operating theater that sailed to remote villages.

Outcome: Sheba’s experts, cutting-edge resources, and innovative tactics restored vision to the blind.

Photo: Children in Papua New Guinea waiting for doctors from Sheba to perform their free eye exams in May 2018.


Problem: A volcano erupted, killing over 100 people and harming hundreds more.

Treatment: Sheba’s emergency responders, including plastic surgeons and burn specialists, assessed the most urgent needs and provided life-saving care.

Outcome: Sheba’s systemic strategy and immediate response saved lives that would have otherwise been lost.


Problem: With many Ukrainians fleeing their homeland for their lives as Russia’s invasion escalates, many are left in need of medical treatment.

Treatment: Sheba Beyond established both virtual treatment centers as well as field hospitals with doctors providing aid in person as well as remotely from Israel.

Photo: Sheba Medical Center staff wave from Sheba’s field hospital in Mostyska, Ukraine.

Learn More


Sheba’s Role Keeps Expanding

As the Israeli role in international humanitarian and disaster has expanded, Sheba’s role has expanded with it. When Israel sends a medical delegation to a human disaster, it is usually Sheba staff and equipment.

humanitarian-image

A Light Unto the Nations

In recent years, Israel has worked to fulfill the Jewish mandate to be a light unto the nations, in large measure through their international relief work. Sheba is the essential medical part of that effort.

Sheba houses the Israel Center for Disaster Medicine and Humanitarian Response, which leads the way through preparation, response, and training for humanitarian missions worldwide from remote villages in Africa, to Greece, Haiti, Central America, New Guinea, and beyond.

Sheba even deployed a team to Italy to help contain their COVID-19 wave.


Israeli aid team heads to Uruguay, where COVID dream has turned to nightmare

The South American country hardly felt the virus last year, but now has the world’s second-highest infection rate and hospitals are under pressure.

An Israeli aid delegation was set to land Tuesday in Uruguay, a country that went almost overnight from a low-COVID oasis to a notorious hotspot with the world’s second-highest rate of new cases.

The four-person team from Sheba Medical Center’s weeklong mission will focus on helping hospitals struggling to cope with the sudden skyrocketing of cases in recent weeks to establish new coronavirus facilities.

For most of 2020, Uruguay, which has a population of just 3.5 million, had very low virus stats. It ended the year with just 181 COVID deaths, but has now seen 2,391, and aside from Cyprus, which just had a sudden spike, has the highest incidence of new cases in proportion to the population.

Some 187,000 Uruguayans have been diagnosed — almost three quarters of them since mid-February, apparently as a result of a variant from neighboring Brazil.

Read the Full Story


Support Sheba’s Global Impact

With your help, Sheba’s experts in emergency care and disaster relief can lead the charge in administering humanitarian aid worldwide.

Donate Now

Don't miss out.

Sign up our weekly newsletter for the latest updates on medical advances and humanitarian efforts of Israel.