Santé Arménie association
Armenia is a country in Transcaucasia, situated between Turkey to the west, Azerbaijan to the east, Georgia to the north and Iran to the south.
In September 2020, when Armenia was confronting two major challenges – the Covid-19 health crisis and the war in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) – a group of French, Belgian and Swiss volunteer healthcare professionals, led by Professor Arsène Mekinian, came together and initiated several dozen medical missions supported by the Greater Paris University Hospitals to provide medical and paramedical support to victims.
Santé Arménie was established shortly thereafter under the aegis of AGBU (Armenian General Benevolent Union) France and set up under the French Law of Associations of 1901. AGBU France has remained a devoted partner ever since.
In the field in Armenia and in Artsakh, the members of the collective recognized how extensive the needs were, prompting Santé Arménie to quickly set up working groups organized by clinical specialty.
Santé Arménie's goal was clear from the outset: Initially, the association would respond to the urgent needs created by the war and, ultimately, go much further than that. Santé Arménie's long-term objective is to contribute to the sustainable development of the Armenian healthcare system by building bridges between Armenian healthcare professionals and their European counterparts who would like to share their knowledge and experience.
Santé Arménie, a non-profit organization created under the French Law of Associations of 1901, was founded in 2020 in response to the urgent need for medical treatment and care resulting from the war in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Working in the field enabled us to see and experience the profound need for development of the Armenian healthcare system.
Key figures
More than 200 volunteers
40 salaried employees in Armenia who provide free healthcare
90 medical missions in Armenia and in Artsakh led by healthcare professionals from France, Belgium, Switzerland and Spain
"Apolitical and non-profit, with the sole aim of giving the best care to those who require it in Armenia, Santé Arménie needs all of you who are ready to contribute on behalf of others."
Professor Arsène Mekinian
President, Santé Arménie
OUR ACHIEVEMENTS SINCE OCTOBER 2020
Care and strengthening of health infrastructure
- Renovation of the rehabilitation facility at the Central Clinical Military Hospital in Yerevan Creation of an outpatient neuro-orthopedic rehabilitation center within the French-Armenian Cardiovascular Center in Goris
- Creation of an oncology department within the Nairi Medical Center in Yerevan
- Creation of an immunology department within the Nairi Medical Center in Yerevan
- Nine villages visited weekly by the general practitioner from the Goris mobile medical unit
- Creation of a new mobile general medicine unit serving the villages around the town of Kapan
- Over 18 months, psychological and psychiatric care for soldiers during and after the Artsakh war
- Psychological and psychiatric care for patients from Syunik, offered individually or in groups, in the outpatient facility at the French-Armenian Cardiovascular Center in Goris
- Psychologists working with groups of adolescents at schools in Sisian and Goris
- Partnership with the Empathia Consultation Center in Stepanakert to provide care, until recently, for patients in Artsakh; pursuit of this partnership in Armenia
Training and transfer of expertise
- 15+ conferences organized by Santé Arménie on various healthcare topics, including nursing, rheumatology, clinical research and ENT (ear, nose and throat disorders)
- 500+ hours of remote multidisciplinary consultation meetings, courses and coaching, benefiting more than 300 Armenian healthcare professionals
- Creation of an online medical academy offering courses for Armenian healthcare students and professionals with 52 courses across seven specialties to date
- Adaptation, translation and publication in Armenian of 11 issues of the well-known French medical journal La Revue du Praticien, available free of charge to all Armenian students and healthcare professionals
- Hosting Armenian healthcare professionals during observational internships in Paris
- Emergency care training for professionals in the Syunik region
Research and development
● Creation of the French-Armenian Academic Research Organization in Yerevan
● Creation of the Biological Resource Center in Yerevan
● Twenty-six scientific publications
All of this is made possible thanks to the support of our donors
and the commitment of our volunteers!
To learn more about our actions and achievements, see our annual report.
Executive committee
Professor Arsène Mekinian
President
Professor Noël Garabedian
Vice-president
Dr. Nadia Gortzounian
Treasurer
Professor Alec Vahanian
Secretary
Dr. Kevork Apkaryan
President of the Santé Arménie Foundation
