About INARA

INARA seeks to improve the lives of conflict impacted children and their physical and mental health through financial support and increased access to services.

INARA is a non-profit that provides access to life-altering medical and mental health care to conflict impacted children. These children are injured or traumatized by the horrors of war, in the aftermath of conflict, or due to unsafe living conditions.

Forgotten about once the bombs stop falling, they struggle to find someone to support them.  At INARA, we step in to provide them with the care they need to heal, recover, and move on.

INARA fills programmatic gaps and takes on cases when no other institution can.

We currently sponsor children of all nationalities in Lebanon and Turkey who need medical attention and psychological help. We have a team of well-trained case workers and mental health professionals ready to step in.

INARA was founded in 2015 by Arwa Damon, CNN Senior International Correspondent, after she bore witness to the suffering of children in warzones for over a decade and a half.

Based on Arwa’s experience, INARA was established to specifically address the gaps these children face in access to medical and mental health care and the programmatic gaps in the region.

Arwa and Youssif

The idea behind INARA started with one Iraqi child, Youssif. In 2007, when Youssif was just five years old, he had gasoline dumped on his face and was set on fire by unknown masked men as he stood in front of his home. His father had searched desperately for medical assistance but found none. Arwa reported the story for CNN, resulting in an outpouring of support from around the world. Arwa arranged for Youssif to travel to Los Angles to receive the surgeries and medical care he desperately needed. Now, Youssif doesn’t remember the attack and is no longer held back by his injuries, able to live a well-rounded life, full of potential. His life is no longer defined by cruelty and evil, but rather kindness and compassion. That is at the core of the work that INARA does and why we believe this work it is so vital. We have the ability to change the narrative of children’s lives.

After Youssif, Arwa felt a profound need to do more, and something was compelling her to challenge the status quo she saw children facing time and time again. After witnessing children become injured and suffer even more after their injuries, because they fell to the wayside, forgotten about once the bombs stopped falling, unable to access care or unable to qualify for aid, Arwa’s conscience would no longer allow to her stand-by.

She took action, conducted a formal needs assessment and in 2015 founded and launched the International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance (INARA), initially funded the organization herself. INARA was established to specifically address the gaps these children face in access to medical and mental health care and the programmatic gaps in the region, and to take on the cases that others don’t.

Watch a CNN feature on Youssif by Arwa Damon

INARA’s vision is a world where no child impacted by conflict is left untreated.

INARA’s mission is to fill in the gaps in access to life changing medical & mental health services by sponsoring care for conflict impacted children.

INARA receives referrals from other NGOs, medical organizations, or individuals. Sometimes, the parents themselves hear about the services we offer and contact us directly.

Once a case is referred to the medical program, INARA’s staff assess the case to determine the urgency, the severity of need, and whether they meet INARA’s criteria.

INARA’s criteria are: 0-18 years of age; injured from war, conflict, blasts, or unsafe living conditions; or are a person with special needs (PWSN), including persons with disabilities.

If they meet INARA’s criteria, they undergo a primary medical assessment, screening, and a mental health assessment. After the assessments, INARA accepts the child into the medical program and if needed into the mental health program as well. INARA staff create and establish the medical and mental health treatment plans simultaneously to ensure a holistic approach to healing and helping the child.

If a child falls outside of our criteria, we find other organizations that provide the type of treatment the child needs and refer them. INARA follows up with the child and their family to make sure they are receiving the treatment they need.

Depending on the urgency of the case and capacity, INARA either immediately begins the child’s medical treatment journey or puts the child on the waitlist. Children are prioritized for treatment according to medical urgency, age (to avoid or reverse impact on growth and mobility) and irreversibility of the disability especially in children requiring orthopedic surgeries, where injuries can result in continuous pain, altered immobility, or irreversible disability, and availability of funds. Children are taken off the waitlist when another child progresses with their treatment or there is an increase in available funds or caseworker time.

Once they start their medical journey with us, they are assigned a case worker who manages their case and treatment plan, arranges procedures and medical appointments, all while providing a support system for the child and his family through these difficult times.

INARA fully finances their medical treatment and the logistical costs involved in supporting the child throughout the entire length of their treatment.

It is our fundamental belief here at INARA that it is our humanitarian responsibility to make sure no child impacted by conflict is left untreated.