Improve lives. That’s what it’s all about.

The association World Doctors takes stock. Christian Streitberger and Nadia Giarbini receive the Helping Hands Award.

Keeping calm in the storm. Focusing on what truly matters. Giving people a chance, no matter how the political winds may blow. That has always been the strength of the association World Doctors. At the general assembly in Bolzano, there was united support for this mission. Despite crises, conflicts, and wars. “We have now existed for 25 years, and it truly makes us proud that there is still so much enthusiasm. We can now feel it among the younger generation as well,” says Gabriele Janssen Pizzecco, the association’s managing director.

The younger generation takes the helm. In 2025, the board was expanded with the young lawyer Florian Brandstätter. In the same year, business economist Victoria Pizzecco, daughter of the founders Toni Pizzecco and Gabriele Janssen Pizzecco, joined the association as Management Assistant. Both have recognized the potential of development aid: “We will not save the world, but with every single act of help we can make one person’s world a little better. What matters most is giving people the opportunity for a better future in their own homeland, provided they have prospects there.”

Helping where it matters most. In 2025, World Doctors supported 33 projects in eleven countries across four continents. And once again in 2025, the people of South Tyrol showed just how strongly they stand behind the association: including the personal allocation of the 5x1000 tax donation, 90 percent of the project budget comes from private donations, while 10 percent comes from public contributions. Nearly 90 percent of expenditures go directly to aid projects.

For World Doctors, this has always meant investing in medicine, education, and drinking water – and since 2023, also in the Loving Home project. In three dioceses with 12.5 million inhabitants in Ethiopia, people are educated about the dangers of illegal migration. At the same time, World Doctors offers people prospects to stay. Sixty young people received support to start small businesses. “We see that development aid works when it creates income-generating activities for young people,” says President Toni Pizzecco.

For 25 years, World Doctors has worked according to the principle of strengthening internal structures and optimizing cooperation. In numbers, this means the association has built schools for 11,500 children and young people. A total of 134 wells provide drinking water for 67,000 people. Sewing courses, vocational training, and microcredits secure the livelihood of many women. And medical facilities – especially the hospitals in Attat, Ethiopia, and Dhulikhel, Nepal, two projects particularly close to the association’s heart – serve as points of care for four million people. Increasingly, the association invests in the quality of local work. To retain doctors at the rural hospital in Attat, construction of housing for medical staff began there in 2025: they are meant to move in with their families and see their future in Attat. The further training of teachers is also specifically promoted, including summer camps with English lessons.

Those who help as human beings are rewarded. This year, the Helping Hands Award, presented annually by the association, goes to Christian Streitberger and Nadia Giarbini. The two ENT specialists oversee newborn hearing screening at Dhulikhel Hospital Nepal and also perform cochlear implant surgeries. In August, they will depart again for their fifth voluntary mission. Hearing is essential for children to “understand” the world. That is why newborns here are tested for all sensory functions. In developing countries, however, hearing impairments often remain undetected. Yet it is simply about equal opportunity: “Everything we detect early can be treated better, and this is especially true for babies and young children,” say the award recipients.

And once again it becomes clear: in 2025, we achieved a great deal. We will continue – even more so in 2026. Please support us!

Or right now: donate your 5x1000 contribution in your tax return. Our tax number: 94074250211.