From December 2022 to September 2023, Azerbaijan closed the main road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, known as the Lachin Corridor, restricting humanitarian access and the transport of medical supplies, food and fuel. We continued our efforts to provide both face-to-face and remote mental health services to people blocked in Nagorno-Karabakh during this period.

On 19 September, Azerbaijan launched an attack on various areas in Nagorno-Karabakh. Although the region is internationally recognised as belonging to Azerbaijan, it has traditionally been home to many ethnic Armenians. After a ceasefire was reached 24 hours later, the Lachin Corridor was reopened, and over 100,000 people crossed into the Armenian border region of Goris. Our emergency medical team immediately began providing psychological first aid and mental health care to people arriving at the main registration point in Goris.

As displaced people were gradually transported to various regions of Armenia for resettlement, we adapted our activities, sending a mobile unit that visited several sites each day to follow up on patients in need of psychological care. In Kotayk and Ararat regions, we offered mental health services via mobile clinics and provided displaced families with essential items, including walking sticks and wheelchairs, in 48 locations.

In May, we opened a project to support testing and treatment for hepatitis C at Archakuniat polyclinic, near Yerevan, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health and local municipalities. The project focuses especially on people in prisons who are particularly vulnerable to hepatitis C infection, with the aim to reduce infections and improve health outcomes for patients diagnosed with the disease.