Relief organisations Hammer Forum e.V. (HFO)

Hammer Forum e.V. (HFO) is a non-profit organisation, which provides medical aid for children in countries of crisis and conflict. Medical doctors and citizens of Hamm established the organisation in 1991 in order to offer medical aid for the most innocent victims of war – the children.

The activities can be divided in two main sectors:

1. Medical projects on the ground to improve the health infrastructure in partner countries such as establishing health centres and conducting health awareness campaigns in cooperation with local organisations.

2. Medical voluntary expat teams, which are sent to the partner country on a regular basis to train medical staff, equip and establish specialised wards (e.g. burn unit or neonatal department) and conduct specialised surgeries. In cases where children cannot be treated in their home country they will be referred to hospitals in Germany for specialised treatment and will return to their country of origin as soon as the treatment is finished.

Currently HFO is running projects in Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Guinea, Yemen, DR Kongo, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Syria. HFO is financed by private donations and public funds from the European Union (ECHO), German Ministry of foreign Affairs (AA), Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), WHO and UNICEF.