Venezuelan Refugee Crisis

The socioeconomic crisis in Venezuela continues to deteriorate leading to collapse of services, deterioration of health facilities, food security and one of the biggest mass displacements in South America’s history. An average of 5,000 people per day are leaving Venezuela many of them entering Ecuador. The economy in Ecuador itself is in recession and there is a significant gap in meeting the needs of the thousands of people entering the country.

In 2019, Airlink arranged shipment of kits to support approximately 4,000 Venezuelan migrants as they transit through Ecuador. The kits provide families with urgently needed hygiene items that they are unable to transport with them including soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes. The kits also contain Aquatabs to provide families with a solution to access safe, clean drinking water. GlobalMedic partnered with UNICEF to distribute these kits to Venezuelan families as they crossed through the northern border point where UNICEF set up operations.  

In 2020, Airlink transported responders from Medical Teams International who are providing medical care to refugees remaining in Colombia and people transiting through the country on foot. An estimated 3 million new Venezuelan refugees are expected to immigrate to Colombia in 2020 alone.