Traumatised by war and unable to access healthcare, countless refugees across the MENA region cannot get the help they need to recover from the terrible ordeals they have suffered.
With host governments and aid agencies completely overwhelmed by the vast needs, SAT-7 is using its strategic platform to provide imaginative and alternative forms of support.
We are launching a new programme in May, Medicine and Life, that addresses the physical and psychological needs of those who have been displaced from their home.
The programme will help viewers to overcome symptoms of trauma, such as feelings of anger and fear, and will also deal with the practical health and hygiene challenges of living in a refugee camp or in sub-standard temporary housing.
Good advice viewers can trust
George Makeen, SAT-7’s Arabic Programming Director, said: “People want to take care of their health but they don’t have access to healthcare and they don’t know whose advice they can trust.
“Refugees are living in circumstances that they are not used to: overcrowding, no heating, freezing winters, no running water, not enough food. Similar issues are facing poor people in the region. So the programme will serve mainly the refugees but a wider audience as well.
“Medicine and Life features experts from different countries giving good advice that viewers can trust.”
Holistic programming
The programme illustrates SAT-7’s commitment to holistic programming, as we seek to minister to the needs of our viewers in every area of life – especially in light of the severe humanitarian crisis facing the MENA region.
Millions have been displaced by conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya in what has been described as the worst refugee crisis since World War II. With host governments and aid agencies completely overwhelmed by the vast needs, SAT-7 is using its strategic platform to provide imaginative and alternative forms of support.
As well as health programmes like Medicine and Life, our children’s channel is helping to meet the educational needs of youngsters who cannot go to school because of war and/or displacement. The current series of My Schoolis providing daily “lessons” in maths, Arabic, English and science for 5- to 7-year-olds.
We know from visiting various refugee communities in the region that many already have access to satellite TV, but SAT-7 is working with partners on the ground to provide others with the equipment they need to enable people to watch our programmes.