CADUS’ involvement in Iraq began relatively spontaneously: the mobile hospital that was completed in Berlin was supposed to cross the border into Northeast-Syria at the beginning of 2017, but was not allowed to cross. At the same time, the liberation struggle against the so-called Islamic State (IS) was raging in Mosul. The WHO became aware of our mobile medical care and asked us to support them with a Trauma Stabilization Point (TSP) near the front line. In an abandoned building, the CADUS team quickly set up emergency medical care and did everything possible to stabilize people in the immediate vicinity of the fighting so that they could survive the transport to the nearest hospital.

After Mosul, further TSP missions followed in Iraq until the mobile hospital was finally handed over to our partner organization, the Kurdish Red Crescent, in Northeast-Syria at the beginning of 2018.

As a cross-border organization in Northeast-Syria, our path led us repeatedly through the Kurdish Region of Iraq (KR-I) over the next few years. We set up our regional office in Erbil and repeatedly entered into partnerships in the region. For example, we carried out several clinic partnerships in Mosul and first aid training for ambulance drivers in Duhok in 2022.