On Saturday, 11^th July, a team of eight kayakers started their 106.5km journey around the Maltese Islands. Their round trip took 24 hours starting from Golden Bay travelling alongside the northern coast of Malta, all around Gozo, and finally back to Malta. They raised over €10,000. The aim of this challenge was to raise enough funds for St John Rescue Corps to purchase a new Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat. Read more here.

Johanniter GmbH runs hospitals and other healthcare facilities under the German Johanniter Order. In 2019, around 16,000 employees contributed to the successful work of Johanniter in their 9 hospitals, 7 specialised clinics, 95 retirement homes, 3 hospices, 7 medical care and therapy centres and 3 education centres. Read the current annual report of Johanniter GmbH with detailed information about their work, developments and new offers (in German) here.

An ongoing economic crisis, growing unrest and the COVID-19 pandemic have destabilised the situation in Lebanon in recent months. Especially young people who have already been disadvantaged by disability or due to refugee status are the main victims of this development. A project by Johanniter International Assistance that supports them restarted in June. It enables 540 young people to receive vocational training, strengthen their self-esteem and enhance employability. Read more here.

The St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group has restructured their website. The new design allows a concise overview and easy navigation throughout the page. Take a look at their sections on Patient Relief, Staff Sponsorship, Children, Outreach, Medical Supplies, Heritage, Events and News here.

On 21^st July, EU leaders agreed on a €750 billion recovery package and the 2021-2027 budget that is intended to help the EU to rebuild after the pandemic and will support investment in the green and digital transitions. Alongside the recovery package, they agreed on a €1074 billion long-term EU budget for the next seven years. The amounts available under the Next Generation EU instrument of the Recovery Fund will be allocated to seven individual programmes including RescEU. However the Parliemant is likely to. However, the European Parliament will potentially delay the negotiations. Talks should then start to secure an interinstitutional deal after the summer. Read more here.

The upcoming webinar organised by the iProcureSecurity consortium will take place on the 6th of August at 15:00 and will present the main challenge to be tackled during the planned Pre-Commercial Procurement project iProcureSecurity PCP. The webinar invites especially solution providers and potential buyers to learn more about the actual challenges on EMS triage and how to participate in and benefit from the PCP process.  If you wish to attend the event, you can register here.