Vaseline’s “Healing Project” Brings Relief to Refugees

As the refugee crisis continues across the globe, many displaced citizens are going without access to basic needs such as clean water, food, clothing and shelter. Many companies are stepping up to provide aid, from Ikea's flat-packed refugee shelters to Google's $5.5 million donation match to humanitarian groups. Yet sometimes a company's own product can be the very best source of relief. When dermatologists Grace Bandow and Samar Jaber arrived at a Syrian refugee camp in 2014, they were surprised to learn many of the ailments affecting patients in the dry, hot, exposed desert could be easily relieved with a very simple product: Vaseline.

Bandow and Jaber published their findings in a Washington Post article, and Vaseline took notice. It signed on the two dermatologists as advisors to "The Healing Project," a partnership with nonprofit Direct Relief to provide "petroleum jellies and lotions to people displaced by natural disasters or humanitarian crises." The Project kicked off this week with a 1.2 million unit donation of Vaseline, with an ultimate goal to heal the skin of 5 million people by 2020. To bring consumers along on the journey, the Healing Project website includes an interactive map, showing where and how many people are receiving aid, as well as videos and images highlighting the difference Vaseline can make to individuals whose entire lives have been uprooted.

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