HOPE for Women and Children of Bangladesh, Mahmood’s organization, primarily offers maternal and emergency health services to people in Bangladesh – including the Rohingya, hundreds of thousands of whom fled violence in Myanmar and settled in camps in Cox’s Bazar. From birthing babies to treating wounds, HOPE has continued to provide ongoing health services around the clock during the Covid-19 pandemic, and has even created a dedicated facility for Covid-19 patients.

But Direct Relief, a longtime partner of HOPE’s, was already working with the company Vaseline to heal skin at dedicated camps around the world. The organization reached out to Mahmood in 2019 to ask if it could provide dermatological support to the Rohingya.

“That was when we noticed that it was a huge problem, that so many people are suffering with skin conditions,” Mahmood recalled.

He wasn’t exactly surprised to discover it. Crowded, unhygienic conditions, along with limited access to showers and baths, lead to fungal infections and the rapid spread of scabies, he explained. Scabies in particular “becomes highly contagious when too many people live in the same area.”

Mahmood hired a dermatologist, Dr. Eliza Parvin, who comes weekly to the camps to care for patients. HOPE’s primary care physicians also work to treat skin conditions, whether in their hospital facility or during the weekly clinic. Any patient who shows up receives free care and medicine.

“It’s a very popular program with us,” Mahmood said of the clinic. He explained that although skin conditions are rarely life-threatening, “it is a chronic problem and people are every day suffering from it.”

The clinic generally sees more than 100 patients each week, and sometimes that number is closer to 150. More than 12,000 people have received care thus far.

Through the Vaseline Healing Project, Direct Relief has provided $81,000 in funding to the skin clinic, along with a range of material support.

Parvin, the dermatologist, said that while close contact and difficult conditions do a great deal to contribute to skin problems, teaching patients how to properly care for their skin – such as handwashing frequently – can make a significant difference.

However, a lack of education is a significant roadblock. “Usually their education is very poor, and they do not maintain their hygiene process,” she said. “The same patients sometimes come every week. It’s very difficult to treat or explain to them.”

Despite the challenges, the work is rewarding. “I feel great to serve refugees because they are…suffering from many skin diseases,” Parvin said.

Part of the process is teaching patients to prioritize their skin, which can often be neglected, Mahmood said. Patients are encouraged to see a provider right away when they notice something is wrong.

“You can proactively manage that [condition] better when you see them early,” he said.

Not surprisingly, Vaseline, which prevents skin from cracking and keeps infection and rashes at bay, is a popular product among clinic patients, Mahmood said: “It keeps the skin’s integrity, even in the rainy season.”

The post Among Rohingya Refugees, Skin Issues Are Rife. This Clinic is a First Line of Defense. appeared first on Direct Relief.

In the year since, Direct Relief has emerged as one of the largest charitable providers of personal protective gear (PPE) and critical care medications globally, having delivered more than 82 million units of PPE, 173 million defined daily doses of vital medicines, and 36 thousand pieces of diagnostic and intensive care equipment to thousands of local organizations across 100 countries, including the U.S.

The organization has also supported health care providers with more than $50 million in direct financial assistance to sustain care and expand services that include mobile and pop-up testing sites, telehealth expansion, and greater cold chain capacity.

For an overview of Direct Relief’s activities in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, please continue reading.

Financial Summary

Covid-19 Pandemic Donations

Jan. 27, 2020 – Jan. 27, 2021

Direct Relief does not accept government funding. Its work is made possible entirely through the support of companies, organizations, foundations, and individuals.

The organization recognizes that supporters who made generous contributions of funding, services, and in-kind goods amid the pandemic did so with the specific intent that their contributions fight Covid-19 and its devastating consequences. In accepting funds as part of its Covid-19 response, Direct Relief understands that these supporters deserve to know precisely how those funds have been and will be disbursed.

Direct Relief received more than 151,000 financial contributions designated for Covid-19, totaling $125.8 million.

Some of these Covid-19-designated donations also had additional restrictions from donors requiring the funds be used for a particular region or country. All designated funds have been respected, administered, and disbursed accordingly.

How Were Funds Used

Direct Relief initiated its Covid-19 response activities using general operating funds. As Direct Relief began receiving funds donated for Covid-19, it expanded its activities and spending accordingly. The situation remains dynamic, with designated funds continuing to be accepted. Direct Relief takes great care to deploy incoming funds responsibly, efficiently, and as rapidly as possible, consistent with donors’ intent.

The following offers a snapshot of the total Covid-19 donations received over the past year:

To date, Direct Relief has spent or committed a total of $83.5 million in cash (66% of the $125.8 million received) in its pandemic response — which continues at high-pace.

Of that amount, $40.8 million has been spent or committed as direct grants to organizations on the frontlines of the pandemic, $35.6 million has been spent on purchasing essential medical items not available through donation, and $7.1 million was spent to distribute all material and financial assistance provided in response to Covid-19, as described below.

Covid-19 Response

By the numbers

Jan. 27, 2020 – Jan. 27, 2021

Grant Making

Medical Aid

Protective Gear

Medical Material Support

Direct Relief has been responding to the pandemic since its earliest days, beginning with requests for help from overstretched hospitals in Wuhan, China. From there, Direct Relief’s response quickly expanded to the United States and the rest of the world.

Since Jan. 2020, the organization has provided support to more than 3,000 partner organizations fighting Covid-19 worldwide.

As of Jan. 27, 2021, that support has included more than 29,000 medical aid shipments totaling 4.9 million pounds and valued at $1.3 billion. Medical aid has reached organizations in 55 U.S. states and territories and 100 countries.

Material support has taken several distinct forms:

• Supplies to protect frontline health workers: Direct Relief provided masks, gloves, gowns, powered air-purifying respirators, face shields, and other PPE to health care organizations globally.
• Medical resources for intensive care: As the pandemic strained hospital resources, the organization provided ventilators, oxygen concentrators, and ICU medications to help overstretched hospitals treat patients with critical cases of Covid-19.
• Ongoing support for chronic health: To minimize interruptions to essential health services, including primary and specialty care, maternal and child health services, mental health treatment, and substance use disorder interventions, Direct Relief provided a wide range of support — chronic health medications, the overdose-reversing medication naloxone, midwife kits, and more.

Direct Relief arranged for and managed the logistics, transport, and delivery of all products to health facilities – free-of-charge.

Direct Financial Assistance

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, designated contributions have allowed Direct Relief to bolster the health care system with financial assistance and support the efforts of locally run organizations with strong ties to their communities.

Thanks to corporate and individual donors’ generosity, Direct Relief has granted more than $53 million in cash worldwide since Jan. 27, 2020.

Grant recipients include health centers, clinics, and locally run organizations providing vital care, testing, and other health care services during the pandemic. These grants helped sustain strained health facilities, keep patients out of hospitals, maintain continuity of care, and fund Covid-19 testing and vaccinations.

For a list of health care facilities and organizations worldwide that have received direct funding from Direct Relief in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, click here.

Covid-19 Response

By Region

United States

• Grants Disbursed: $48.6 million
• Material Aid Provided: $284.3 million
  • Shipments: 28.8 thousand
  • PPE: 21.3 million units
  • Medications: 48.6 million Defined Daily Doses
  • ICU Kits: 178
  • Ventilators & oxygen concentrators: 1,046

Americas

• Grants Disbursed: $405 thousand
• Material Aid Provided: $341 million
  • Shipments: 260
  • PPE: 8.2 million units
  • Medications: 61.1 million Defined Daily Doses
  • ICU Kits: 84
  • Ventilators & oxygen concentrators: 1,497 units

Asia

• Grants Disbursed: $1.3 million
• Material Aid Provided: $169.6 million
  • Shipments: 234
  • PPE: 4.1 million units
  • Medications: 15.6 million defined daily doses
  • ICU Kits: 58
  • Ventilators & oxygen concentrators: 420 units

Africa

• Grants Disbursed: $1.26 million
• Material Aid Provided: $489 million
  • Shipments: 234
  • PPE: 42.4 million units
  • Medications: 27.9 million defined daily doses
  • ICU kits: 73
  • Ventilators & oxygen concentrators: 326

Europe

• Grants Disbursed: $503 thousand
• Material Aid Provided: $33.1 million
  • Shipments: 50
  • PPE: 1.4 million units
  • Medications: 1.5 million defined daily doses
  • ICU kits: 4
  • Ventilators & oxygen concentrators: 524

Applied Research and Analytics

Even before the pandemic, Direct Relief had facilitated emergency managers’ use of population movement and other data for decision-making purposes, including in Texas, California, and Michigan.

When Covid-19 hit, it was immediately apparent that this kind of data would be an essential tool for analyzing social distancing effectiveness.

In March of 2020, Direct Relief, with researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health, established the Covid-19 Mobility Data Network. The network, comprised of a group of about 70 infectious disease epidemiologists and other researchers, began creating simple, usable data projects to help public health officials and policymakers understand the impacts of social distancing measures in a given area.

Officials have used the group’s research and information tools in the UK, Spain, Italy, India, Australia, Botswana, Chile, and other countries. The data used for these analyses is hosted on the UN’s Humanitarian Data Exchange, allowing governments worldwide to receive support or analyze the data themselves.

While the Covid-19 Mobility Data Network was convened because of an emergency, Direct Relief and the researchers wanted to ensure that similar data would be readily available in a clear and actionable form and on an ongoing basis for future crises, including wildfires and hurricanes.

CrisisReady, working with the World Bank, is in the initial stages of creating a global emergency response network, which will launch in March-April of 2021.

In addition, Direct Relief is funding two researchers whose essential work combines population movement data and health crisis analysis: Pamela Martinez at the University of Illinois and Amy Wesolowski at Johns Hopkins University.

Among the resources developed by Direct Relief to inform and track its pandemic response are the following:

• The Covid-19 International Vulnerability Index examines population movement data and information about case counts, hospital beds, and other vulnerability indicators to generate actionable information and analysis.
• The United States forecast map draws on anonymized data to predict the spread of Covid-19.
• The United States pandemic response tracker shows Direct Relief’s distribution of medical aid across the country.
• The international pandemic response tracker shows the organization’s global distribution.

Looking forward

The remaining funds designated for the pandemic will enable Direct Relief to continue its worldwide response, focusing on:

1. Supporting vaccination efforts

• Expanding cold-chain storage and transport at hospitals and health centers and providing coolers for mobile vaccination campaigns.
• Providing needles and syringes to administer vaccines.
• Supplying PPE to health workers giving vaccinations.
• Funding education, awareness, and outreach campaigns at health centers and hospitals, particularly in poor communities and communities of color.
• Employing digital tools and artificial intelligence to determine low vaccine uptake areas and provide that information to policymakers and public health officials.
• Funding health centers that experience reimbursement gaps after administering vaccines.
• Increasing Direct Relief’s internal capabilities to receive, store, and distribute the vaccine.
• Supporting the opening of large-scale vaccination sites with funding and supplies.
• Providing back-up power sources to health care sites at risk of power loss, which can destroy vaccines.

2. Addressing Covid-19 gaps in hardest-hit areas

• Funding health initiatives in primarily minority communities hit disproportionately hard by the pandemic.
• Providing grants to health care providers in the United States and around the world struggling to care for patients affected by Covid-19.
• Continuing to provide critical care medications, oxygen concentrators, and ventilators to hospitals worldwide caring for Covid-19 patients.
• Supplying PPE to providers unable to access these lifesaving supplies reliably.
• Establishing and funding Covid-19 treatment and isolation wards ensures that low-resource areas have the resources to care for Covid-19 patients safely.
• Providing health care support for Covid-19 patients to recover at home, freeing hospital beds for more critical cases.

3. Continuing support for people with other health care needs:

• While global health resources are diverted towards preventing and treating Covid-19, fundamental health care needs continue.
• Babies continue to be born. The number of people with chronic conditions like diabetes and cancer is only growing. And children with diabetes, hemophilia, and rare diseases still need lifesaving therapies.
• As the pandemic continues, Direct Relief will continue to provide the essential medical aid required for their care.

Thank You

Direct Relief’s extensive ability to provide a wide range of medical aid, from PPE to medications intended for critical cases of Covid-19, would not have been possible without in-kind and financial donations from dozens of pharmaceutical and medical supply companies, with air transport and logistical services provided by FedEx.

Many of these organizations work closely with Direct Relief on an ongoing basis to fund and supply humanitarian projects and programs. However, the outpouring of support from corporate partners, both new and ongoing, has been unprecedented during the Covid-19 pandemic. Direct Relief is deeply grateful for their generosity and commitment.

Included among them are:

The post Covid-19 Relief: One-Year Report on Use of Funds and Response Activity appeared first on Direct Relief.

The dermatologist “had a great bedside manner and obviously knew what they were doing,” recalled Dr. Okoye, now a dermatologist at Howard University Hospital and chair of Howard University’s Department of Dermatology.

But when the time came to set a course of treatment, the specialist prescribed a shampoo and instructed Dr. Okoye to use it daily.

“I realized, ‘They must just not know that Black women don’t wash their hair every day,’” she said.

And in that realization, she saw a path forward for herself. “I like dermatology, I love dermatology. I could also bring this cultural context that seems to be missing from the field,” she remembered thinking.

So she decided to specialize in treating skin of color, which was – and still is – under-represented in research, education, and practice, Dr. Okoye said.

She studied the work of trailblazers in the field and developed relationships with the relatively small community of doctors who specialized in skin of color.

Today, Dr. Okoye works to provide culturally and economically appropriate care for patients of color – and to teach frontline health care providers to do the same.

Less access, worse outcomes

The Vaseline Healing Project, an aid effort to heal the skin of people around the world affected by poverty or emergency, is a partnership between Vaseline and Direct Relief. Partnering with the telehealth nonprofit The MAVEN Project, the Vaseline Healing Project is currently hosting a series of three trainings designed to teach staff members at health centers and clinics to effectively treat skin of color.

“At Vaseline, we know systemic racism and health care inequities disproportionately impact black and brown communities,” said Carmen Barker, global brand manager for Vaseline. “To remedy this, we will be training dermatologists and medical practitioners to help improve skin healthcare outcomes for people with Black and brown skin.”

“We know that the demographics of the U.S. are changing. And so, no matter where you practice currently, you will be seeing more Black and brown skin in the next few years,” Dr. Okoye said during an October 16 webinar focused on helping these frontline health providers effectively diagnose and manage eczema.

Racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately likely to be low-income, to lack health insurance, and to experience worse health outcomes than white patients. Many of them are served by the nation’s community health centers and clinics, which provide everything from primary to dental care.

That makes these health organizations the first stop for many low-income Black and brown patients – including those currently experiencing a skin or scalp issue.

“Dermatologic disparities are also very real,” Dr. Okoye said at the webinar. “Patients with skin of color tend to have poorer outcomes with dermatologic disease.”

Because referral to a specialist often means a long wait time – Dr. Okoye cited wait times of up to six months for some dermatologists – being able to treat a skin disease quickly and effectively in a clinic can make a significant difference.

Because it’s less expensive, “we usually try to deal with it in-house” when a patient comes in with a skin condition, said Dr. Martha Thigpen, an internist and the CEO of Gulf Coast Health Center in Port Arthur, Texas, who attended the webinar. “If it doesn’t work, then we’ll try to do a referral.”

Dr. Thigpen said that 40% of her patients are people of color. Approximately 60% lack health insurance.

Those who have skin conditions and need a specialist are often treated by a local academic medical center that takes charitable cases, she explained.

Treating skin of color

Dermatological concerns, left untreated, can cause long-lasting issues, Dr. Okoye said.

Dr. Okoye offered the example of a ten-year-old patient whose eczema was keeping her – and her parents – up at night, making it difficult for her to concentrate during school and placing added strain on her family.

“All of a sudden, their skin disease is absolutely impacting who they can become,” Dr. Okoye said during the webinar. “You don’t want this child to wait four months to see somebody. You can help her sleep – tonight.”

When it comes to treating skin of color, Dr. Okoye sees two major differences.

One is biological. Darker skin, she said, is more likely to develop disorders of hyperpigmentation, and to present some skin issues, including eczema, differently.

“We always have to wonder, is there a biological difference here?” she told Direct Relief in a separate conversation.

But some skin disorders that seem to particularly affect darker skin may also do so because of socioeconomic factors, including access to health care and medication, she said.

The bottom line

Strikingly, Dr. Okoye’s presentation focused heavily on an aspect of patient care that’s often undiscussed: cost. An effective treatment regimen, she showed, can be assembled out of the lowest-cost medications available at nationwide pharmacies.

Because so many of her patients are economically disadvantaged, she told Direct Relief, it’s essential to pay attention to whether they’ll be able to fulfill a prescription or stick to a regimen.

“My clinic is always running an hour behind. I sit and I talk to patients,” she said. “I started hearing from patients about their challenges in getting medications that I thought were easy to come by.”

She started paying attention to individual insurers’ formularies – the prescriptions covered by their drug plans – including those of Medicaid and other public insurance plans. And she encourages other physicians, whether they’re dermatologists or primary care providers, to do the same.

Dr. Okoye also encourages fellow doctors to spend time with their patients and ask open-ended questions to help uncover barriers to treatment. “I sit there and I let them talk, and I think that that alone opens the door,” she said.

On this particular front, health centers and clinics may be a step ahead. “I get the sense that the clinics we work with go above and beyond to advocate for their patients and to really meet them where they are,” Dr. Okoye said.

Behind her commitment to working with frontline providers is an awareness of the essential role they play in treating the nation’s most vulnerable people.

“Without these people, we would be nowhere as a society,” Dr. Okoye said. “They are doing really good work, and I respect them and I want to empower them.”

Rose Levy contributed reporting to this story.

The post Caring for Skin of Color appeared first on Direct Relief.

Fires are “especially difficult just by nature of the displacement,” said Felicia Walker, chief operating officer at the nonprofit Reach Out WorldWide (ROWW). In many cases, “when these people are coming home, they have literally nothing to come home to.”

Walker knows what she’s talking about. Since its founding in 2010 by firefighters and paramedics, including the late actor Paul Walker, ROWW has responded to disasters all over the world – whether it’s an earthquake in Haiti or a typhoon in Nepal – and often with Direct Relief. 

“Many of them are not going to know their circumstances for up to six months down the road,” such as whether or not they have jobs, Walker said, describing those displaced by the wildfires that have swept the West Coast in recent weeks. “From top to bottom, there’s little communities everywhere that have been completely destroyed.

ROWW plans to identify a couple of large-scale recovery projects in the coming months, but for the time being, Walker said, what’s most needed are hygiene and first aid supplies, materials for firefighters still on the frontlines, masks, and personal items.

Over the weekend, Direct Relief, via a fleet of volunteer pilots, provided ROWW with 100,000 KN95 masks, wildfire kits filled with critical medications and supplies, tents donated by Barebones, and hygiene items donated by Vaseline, among others.

The supplies were distributed to emergency staging sites and camps up and down the Interstate-5 in Oregon, to aid both firefighters on the frontlines and people displaced by the blazes.

Volunteer coordinator Joshwa Martin, on the ground in Oregon, spoke to Direct Relief while on his way to survey a new potential evacuation center. (A previous one had just closed down.)

The evacuation center Martin described, most recently set up at a local high school, allowed evacuees to receive medical and mental health care along with needed supplies, chosen for them with the help of a “personal shopper.” Those with special needs could receive help from an occupational therapist.

For Martin, a managing director at an apparel company, the volunteer work he’s doing is about much more than trying to meet basic needs. “They’ve been assigned the role of evacuee right now….but they’re not an evacuee. They’re a soul,” he said. “We’re just trying to recognize the human.”

For ROWW, which is based in California and has volunteers in Oregon, devastating wildfires are nothing new. Walker described developing a “community toolshare” for people in Butte County rebuilding their homes after the catastrophic Camp Fire in 2018, which killed 85 people and destroyed thousands of residences.

But while they may not be new, they are personal.

“We pretty much go anywhere” when help is required, Walker said. However, when it comes to the wildfires, “this is right in our backyard.”

As a California-based nonprofit disaster relief and medical assistance organization, Direct Relief responds each year to wildfires and other emergencies in both its home state and throughout the U.S. and has done so for decades. So far this wildfire season, Direct Relief has supported more than 30 health centers, public emergency response offices, and county health departments across California, Oregon, and Washington with more than 70 deliveries of protective gear, respiratory aids, ophthalmic products, tetanus vaccines, and other requested medicines and supplies.

The post For Oregon’s Displaced, Wildfires are Just the Beginning appeared first on Direct Relief.

The shipments were transported by FedEx and contained face shields donated by Apple and 3M, masks donated by AstraZeneca and Cisco, and essential products donated by Vaseline and others.

Since January 24, when Direct Relief sent its first shipment of PPE in response to the coronavirus outbreak to Seattle, the organization has delivered nearly 10,000 shipments containing more than 4.3 million masks, 3.1 million gloves, 622,000 face shields and 100,000 gowns to health facilities across the U.S. and in more than 50 countries.

Direct Relief has also equipped hospitals with 500 “push packs,” each holding enough ICU critical medications and supplies for at least 100 hospitalized patients, provided 3,000 oxygen concentrators to help recovering patients leave the hospital sooner, and committed $27 million in funds to community health providers in the U.S.

The post Direct Relief Delivers Protective Gear Nationwide to Health Clinics and Hospitals appeared first on Direct Relief.

Estimates vary widely, but all point to at least several thousand new cases per year and about half a million women who have suffered from fistula. Frustratingly, the affliction is both preventable and can usually be repaired with proper surgery. In 2017, over 8,200 women were treated by United Nations-funded initiatives alone, according to a Maternal Health Thematic Fund annual report.

Bangladesh is aiming to end obstetric fistula nationwide by 2030 — a bold goal in which Dr. Iftikher Mahmood will play a major part.

Mahmood, a Miami, Florida-based pediatrician, is the driving force behind HOPE Foundation for Women and Children of Bangladesh, an organization that has been tasked by the government with overseeing the elimination of obstetric fistula in the country’s largest geographical province. This province, the Chittagong Division, is home to more than 30 million people, or about 18% of the total population in the South Asian country.

To accomplish eliminating fistula in this region, HOPE is currently building a new hospital, which will allow them to care for more women during childbirth. Additionally, HOPE’s team of specialized obstetric surgeons will be training new surgeons, as well as creating a curriculum to inform even more doctors, on how to avert the condition. A major challenge in Bangladesh, however, is the paucity of doctors, of all specialties, per capita, with only 3.6 per 10,000 people. The U.S. has 24.5 and Qatar, the most, has 77.4, according to the World Health Organization.

If women don’t receive the care they need during pregnancy, serious complications can occur. “As a physician, I believe in  health care for everyone. So when I learned about this fistula problem, I decided I will do something about it, in Bangladesh,” Mahmood told Direct Relief during a recent visit to the organization’s California headquarters.

Mahmood and his organization were entrusted with such a wide swath of the nation based on the strength of their past work, which began in 1999. HOPE began as a one-room, outpatient clinic built on land Mahmood’s family owned and was staffed by a volunteer doctor. It grew exponentionally, and the foundation reported treating 222,000 patients last year across its two hospitals and 18 health centers, many of which are in underserved, rural areas.

HOPE also conducts midwife trainings and is present in the Rohingya refugee camps, where they treat more than 300 patients per day, despite often facing adverse natural and social conditions.

Though they help fill gaps in the Bangladesh’s healthcare system everyday, this mission of responding to crises has endured. Over this past summer, Mahmood led a mission 500 miles away from his group’s home base, in Cox’s Bazar, to the north of the country in order to help victims of flooding.

HOPE was able to respond with crucial supplies, including Direct Relief donations, such as water purifying packs, Vaseline, soaps, vitamins, medicines and first-aid kits.

Bringing Realizations to Life

In dealing with fistula, Dr. Mahmood, who was born in Bangladesh and completed his medical residency and fellowship in New York, is manifesting two separate insights he had many years ago.

Growing up,  Mahmood said he witnessed many inequities in the health system. “There were a lot of difficulties in accessing medical care,” he said, and those insights motivated him to go to medical school.

“I have the ability and I learned a lot [in the United States] so instead of using it for my personal benefit only, I wanted to share with people who really need help,” Mahmood said.

Regarding his decision to address maternal health in Bangladesh, Mahmood said he determined that, in order to have healthy children, care must start at the earliest juncture possible.

“The reason I focused on maternal health being a pediatrician, is that I realized that if you have a healthy mother, you have a healthy child,” he said.

The HOPE Foundation aims to continue its work in caring for the most vulnerable populations in Bangladesh by increasing its capacity via new infrastructure projects as well as ongoing partnerships with Direct Relief, Unilever, and the United Nations Population Fund.

“If we can share some of the resources for the people that cannot afford health care, it is a blessing that we can be part of these kinds of efforts,” he said.

“We’re all human beings and we all have feelings like joy and pain. We all go through diseases, and health is important for all of us,” he said.

Additional reporting contributed by Paulina Ospina and Joe Harrison.

The post Fistula is Devastating. This Doctor Is Working to End It. appeared first on Direct Relief.

The airlift contained nearly 40 tons of medications and medical essentials, amounting to $20.6 million (wholesale) in donated medications, nutritionals and medical supplies. More than two dozen healthcare companies provided these items, which included extensive quantities of intravenous solutions and prescription medications for acute conditions and chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.

“The airlift’s arrival reflects the ongoing concern and support for Puerto Ricans from thousands of people, including those at the dozens of companies who have stepped forward to help,” said Direct Relief President and CEO Thomas Tighe. “The need and importance of the medical and health resources for people who need them is obvious, but the fact that they are here only because people from all walks took some action is particularly meaningful during the holiday season.”

The following companies contributed donations of medicine, supplies and funding for the flight:
3M, Abbott, AbbVie, ABF Freight, Alcon Laboratories, Inc., Amgen Foundation, Ansell Healthcare, Baxter International Inc., Bayer, BD, Boehringer Ingelheim Cares Foundation, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Colgate Oral Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories LTD., Eli Lilly and Company, Essential Oxygen, GSK, Henry Schein, Inc., Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Kaleo Pharma, Mylan, Nephron Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, Prestige Brands, Sagent Pharmaceuticals, Sundial Brands, Teva Pharmaceuticals, USA, Trividia Health, Vaseline, and We Care Solar.

“Amgen Foundation is proud to support Direct Relief’s tireless work to meet the ongoing health needs of Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria,” said Eduardo Cetlin, president of the Amgen Foundation. “Direct Relief continues to play a critical role in fulfilling the need for medical resources following the storm, and our support of their efforts reflects our commitment to the people.”

Since Hurricane Maria made landfall on Sept. 20, Direct Relief’s private assistance efforts have totaled over 218 tons (423,644 lbs) of specifically requested medical essentials valued at more than $52 million wholesale to bolster the health system and enable care for Puerto Rico’s residents. Direct Relief has provided these resources via 181 deliveries to more than 50 nonprofit health centers, public health facilities, emergency medical teams, and locally run nonprofit organizations focused on diabetes, vaccinations, and women’s health throughout Puerto Rico.

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The post Direct Relief Airlifts 79,365 lbs of Emergency Medical Aid to Puerto Rico appeared first on Direct Relief.

The Direct Relief-chartered MD-11 cargo jet contained $21 million (wholesale) in donated medical resources from 44 companies (full list of companies below), including extensive quantities of intravenous solutions and prescription medications for acute conditions and chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension that can rapidly become medical emergencies if not managed. 

“This airlift will go a long way towards helping our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico, and I am eternally grateful to Direct Relief and all of the organizations involved,” said President Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States, and founder and board chair of the Clinton Foundation. “Their efforts are a reminder that when so many people need our help, our common humanity matters even more.”

The Clinton Foundation has supported Direct Relief’s work for years, including the recovery efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014. In the response to the Caribbean hurricanes this year, the Clinton Foundation has helped to coordinate and advise the team at Direct Relief.

Businesses Step Up to Fill Resource Gap

Direct Relief works with dozens of healthcare companies’ philanthropic arms on an ongoing basis to address public health needs and humanitarian crises across the globe and in all 50 U.S. states.  This private philanthropic support from businesses, as well as philanthropic support from individuals, foundations, and organizations has enabled a massively stepped-up response to assist in Puerto Rico, where health services have been severely constricted by the extensive damage caused by Hurricane Maria.

44 companies joined in filling specific requests that Direct Relief received from nonprofit health centers, government facilities, and private hospitals in Puerto Rico – all of which have been struggling to restore and expand services to care for the island’s more than 3 million residents.

“Direct Relief has been a wonderful partner for Eli Lilly and Company,” said Rob Smith, senior director of corporate responsibility and president of the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation.  “We have worked together to get insulin to those impacted by the devastating effects of Hurricane Maria.  Lilly could not ask for a more capable, responsive, and compassionate partner.  We are so grateful for all of the things Direct Relief is doing to help the great people of Puerto Rico recover from this terrible disaster.”

The medicines and supplies on the flight were donated by the following companies:

3M; Abbott; AbbVie; Alcon; Allergan plc; Amneal Pharmaceuticals; Apotex Inc.; AstraZeneca; Baxter International Inc.; Bayer; BD; Boehringer Ingelheim Cares Foundation; Bristol-Myers Squibb; Cera Products, Inc.; Cipla; Coola Suncare; CVS; DayOne Response; Ethicon; GSK; Henry Schein, Inc.; Integra LifeSciences; InTouch Health; Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson; Kaléo; LifeScan; Magno-Humphries Labs; Medtronic; Merck & Co., Inc.; Mylan; Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation; Noble Laboratories, Inc.; Novartis; Pfizer Inc.; Prestige Brands; Sagent Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Sanofi Foundation for NA; Sappo Hill Soapworks; Starbucks; Teva Pharmaceuticals, USA; Trividia Health; Vaseline; Wisconsin Pharmacal Company. 

Responding to an Unprecedented Hurricane Season

Today’s airlift follows several weeks of smaller-scale airlifts and hand-carried medications and emergency medical resources to dozens of Puerto Rico’s nonprofit health centers and medical teams organized by the Puerto Rico Department of Health.

Among the critical items has been 565 vials of blood-clotting factor for children with hemophilia, 15,600 vials of insulin, 35 pre-kitted emergency medical packs containing a broad range of Rx medications and supplies, as well as 1500 solar lights and over 4000 bottles of insect repellant to protect against Zika virus.

Direct Relief’s response in Puerto Rico has been concurrent with extensive responses to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma that preceded Maria.

Since Hurricane Harvey’s landfall on August 25, Direct Relief has sent 148 tons of medications, vaccines, and medical supplies valued at $64.7 million (wholesale) and including 19 million defined daily doses of Rx medications delivered via 560 emergency shipments to 143 partner organizations in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, USVI and seven Caribbean countries.

In addition, Direct Relief has provided and committed financial support in the form of grants totaling over $2.7 million to 43 nonprofit health centers and clinics and their primary care associations in Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico.

The post 76-Ton Airlift of Medicine and Medical Supplies Lands in Puerto Rico   appeared first on Direct Relief.

A small bump just above the left collarbone had sprung up on Hector Quevedo’s neck.

After a year of using glycerin in hopes to smooth out the mole, Quevedo finally visited the Community Health and Social Services Center, Inc., known as CHASS, in Detroit for medical help. He was referred to Henry Ford Hospital, or HFH, for a biopsy. The mole was cancerous.

Quevedo’s case reinforces the need for skin screening and early referral to care. That’s why CHASS, Direct Relief, Henry Ford Hospital and Vaseline partnered in a dermatology screening event in Detroit last month to encourage patients to be proactive about skin health. The effort was a United States mission for the Vaseline Healing Project, whose goal is to heal skin of 5 million people affected by poverty or emergency situations by 2020. CHASS, a Direct Relief replenishment program recipient, is working to institute dermatology services to its patients through a partnership with HFH.

Jenny Lauroesch, project lead for Vaseline, said skin conditions vary across the world, but similarities lie within impoverished communities, areas where there is a lack of health insurance and doctors, and communities where transportation to medical help is not readily available.

The Detroit event was part of the outdoor mercado of vendors for health services and fresh foods that CHASS instituted in 2012. Representatives from VHP and Direct Relief gave away pamphlets of information, Vaseline, and lotion for every person who agreed to a free dermatology screening.

Doctors from HFH conducted the screenings inside CHASS. Dr. Albert Antonyan said signs of skin cancer could be an asymmetrical mole or dark spot, a mole with a bumpy border and multiple colors, or is larger than six millimeters in diameter. He gave patients tips on preventative care including simple tasks like wearing sunscreen, lotions with SPF, wearing protective clothing, keeping the skin moisturized and using non-comedogenic products on the skin.

Over 50 patients were seen over the course of the four-hour event, and eight biopsies conducted as a result. Dermatologists reported several significant findings that prompted referrals, again highlighting the importance of skin education and screening.

Quevedo, who has had two separate occurrences of melanoma, attended the event and is an example of the program’s success. He’s been a patient of Dr. Felix Valbuena at CHASS for almost a decade. Quevedo lived across the street from the health center’s old building and has remained in the neighborhood. He previously worked at a local coffee shop that the doctors frequent.

Dermatology services aren’t normally offered to CHASS patients, so the event complemented care offered by the center.

Due to the relationship CHASS has with HFH, Quevedo qualified for a voucher program at the time and his medical expenses to remove the cancerous mole were covered in full. When Valbuena, CEO of CHASS, found another melanoma spot on Quevedo’s head two years later, it was also treated surgically.

“I tell my patients, ‘I take care of you like I take care of my family’,” Valbuena said. “I want them to be as healthy as they can be so they can be productive members of society.”

Patients at CHASS are predominantly Hispanic. The health center is a anchor in the community, a reliable place for residents to receive health and social services.

Denise Pike, Development Director at CHASS, said the organization is a healthcare partner, not just a provider in the area. Pike said it’s proven in the generational loyalty of their patients. At CHASS, almost every doctor has basic competency in two languages. Pike says if a patient is able to understand the doctor, they are more likely willing to follow the doctor’s directions and take the medications that have been prescribed.

“It’s really important for providers to come to the community instead of the community coming to them to understand the needs of the people,” Pike said. “It can be intimidating not being able to communicate and understand the doctor when you need medical services.”

The post Caring for Skin, One Screening at a Time in Detroit appeared first on Direct Relief.

During the course of the three-day medical mission in Bahrabise, Nepal, the CHEERS team provided free medical treatment to over 2,000 Nepalis, with Dr. Kamal’s ophthalmic surgical team performing 38 cataract removal surgeries. Through generous donations made to Direct Relief’s Nepal disaster relief and rebuilding efforts, Direct Relief was able to provide funding for the CHEERS team to conduct additional medical missions all over Nepal. (Video by Mark Semegen and Daniel Burke)

In the aftermath of a devastating 7.8 earthquake that struck Nepal in 2015, the staff at the Children’s Hospital for Eye, ENT and Rehabilitation Services, known as CHEERS, began sending teams of doctors on medical missions to areas that had been especially hard hit.

In Aug. 2016, Direct Relief and the Vaseline® Healing Project partnered with CHEERS to provide free medical assistance to the residents of Bahrabise, a small town close to the border of Tibet in the foothills of the Himalayas. With the earthquake and subsequent monsoons, landslides had closed the border crossing and the region’s economy was devastated as tourism dropped sharply after the earthquake.

The medical mission in Bahrabise took place over three days, with a team of American dermatologists, Dr. Grace Bandow and Dr. Samer Jaber, working alongside a team of Nepali doctors, pediatricians, ENTs, and ophthalmologists. As word spread of the doctors providing free medical treatment, patients from all over the region came to see the doctors, with some needing care traveling over eight hours across mountains and treacherous foot trails. Dr. Kamal Bahadur Khadka, a renowned Nepali ophthalmic surgeon who had recently joined the CHEERS team, performed cataract removal surgeries each afternoon. After the surgeries were performed, Dr. Kamal instructed the patients to return to the clinic the following morning to have their eye patches removed.

The next day, the Direct Relief team woke up early to watch the patients undergo their post-op evaluations. After the surgical team removed each patient’s gauze padding and washed their eyes with sterile drops, Dr. Kamal performed a vision check by holding up fingers from about 15 feet away. One by one, each patient discovered that they could see clearly again and that the full or partial blindness afflicting them for years was gone.

The post After the Quake, the Gift of Sight appeared first on Direct Relief.

Nearly 5 million people have fled Syria since the beginning of the country’s civil war six years ago. Another 6.3 million are internally displaced, meaning they’ve remained in the country but have had to flee their homes. Within Syria, healthcare access is a challenge for people who have been displaced from their homes.

Direct Relief continues to send essential items, like emergency health kits. The kits meet the global standard for emergency response and can treat up to 1,000 patients for 30 days. Direct Relief has provided groups like Syria Relief and Development with field medic packs, which contain an assortment of portable medicines.

Direct Relief has focused not only on aid to patients but also to healthcare workers inside the country. Relentless bombings of health clinics and hospitals in Syria have killed more than 800 health workers, according to the medical journal Lancet, and medicines and protective gear have been shipped to frontline health workers as a result.

Because many local hospitals and clinics have been destroyed, doctors and nurses to treat patients wherever they can. Emergency medical tents have also been sent by Direct Relief, and the tents allow a temporary space for triage care to take place.

Here are four ways Direct Relief continues to support health care in the region.

1. Protecting frontline health workers from chemical attacks: Direct Relief has shipped more than 10,000 doses of sarin gas antidote to protect healthcare workers and patients at risk of chemical attack inside Syria. After an April 4, 2017, sarin gas attack in Khan Sheikoun killed more than 80 people, including several doctors and health workers, groups like the Syrian American Medical Society requested antidotes and personal protective gear. Emergency health kits were also sent, each of which contained over 150 essential items like antibiotics, surgical tools, and trauma and wound care supplies. These kits went to groups like SAMS, the Independent Doctors Association, and Syria Relief and Development, all of which have medical personnel working on the ground inside Syria.

   

2. Preventing complications from chronic conditions: Non-communicable diseases, like diabetes and heart disease, remain leading causes of death for refugees. Many refugees seek safety in neighboring countries, including Jordan, where nearly 700,000 Syrian refugees are living. Direct Relief gave $300,000 to the Royal Health Awareness Society in Jordan for their Healthy Community Clinics program, and the effort focuses on treating non-communicable diseases. Tobacco use is also common among refugees, and smoking cessation gum was donated to the Royal Health Awareness Society. Other key items to manage chronic conditions, like insulin, needles and syringes were distributed to charitable healthcare providers by Jordan’s Ministry of Health.

   

    

3. Caring for skin issues: Skin conditions often go untreated and can lead to troubling health issues, such as physical pain, infection and the inability to work. To help Syrian refugees at risk of these issues, Direct Relief partnered with the Vaseline Healing Project to organize a six-day mission to treat and document skin conditions among refugees living in a high-need, rural area of Jordan. Dermatological outreach took place in the Zaatari Syrian refugee camp for people with skin-related injuries, infections or diseases.
4. Supporting healthy pregnancies: Pregnant women and developing babies are particularly at risk of micronutrient deficiencies. Direct Relief produces and distributes prenatal vitamins to organizations throughout the region who are providing maternal and child health services to Syrian refugees and vulnerable nationals. Mobile medical tents have also been sent, providing privacy for doctors and patients during exams.

The post Emergency Update: Direct Relief’s Response to the Syrian Crisis Continues appeared first on Direct Relief.

When he was first diagnosed, Audelio sought medical treatment to manage his psoriasis. However, he abandoned treatment after an improperly prescribed medicine worsened his symptoms.

That experience led Audelio to endure the painful symptoms of his condition for more than a decade without seeking dermatological care.

Finally, with the encouragement of his family, Audelio visited a clinic in Chiapas.

Chiapas is one of Mexico’s poorest states. Fortunately, the region is home to a network of rural public health clinics that aim to reach marginalized highland communities and provide critical health services to those who need it most. The network is operated by the nonprofit Compañeros En Salud (CES) or Partners In Health.

CES started working in Mexico in 2011. Its central office is in Jaltenango de la Paz, a city in the Sierra Madre mountains of Chiapas where half the population lives below the poverty line. Beyond providing care in these rural clinics and the maternity ward of a community hospital, much of CES’s work involves addressing the obstacles that patients face in accessing care and successfully being able to adhere to treatment.

CES trains local women as community health workers (CHWs), who visit patients in their homes to ensure that they understand their conditions and treatment plans, and that they have the resources and support they need to adhere to them. CES also links patients to specialized care when needed, whether outside the community (through its Right to Health team that manages referrals to hospitals, attends patients’ medical consultations, and provides all transportation, meals and lodging so that patients can get the care they need), or by facilitating visits from specialists to patients in their communities.

As part of the Vaseline^® Healing Project, medical missions were conducted in the region to bring dermatological care to people without access. With support from Direct Relief and the Vaseline brand, a team of healthcare providers joined local clinicians and specialists in providing comprehensive care and treatment to patients.

All consultations and medications were provided free of charge.

Over the course of three one-day clinics, more than 150 patients were treated in centers throughout Chiapas, including the Honduras health site. Señor Audelio was one of those patients.

In addition to caring for and treating patients, the medical mission offered dermatological training for doctors in the region. The objective was to provide local physicians with knowledge so they could continue providing quality care to their patients.

Dr. Caren Aquino, a dermatologist from Chiapas’ capital city, Tuxtla Gutierrez, joined the three-day mission. With the goal of improving staffing and linking vulnerable communities to more specialized care in Mexico, CES welcomed Dr. Aquino for the first time.

Her presence was invaluable.

In addition to bridging the gap between specialized care in hospitals and rural communities, Dr. Aquino provided hands-on training to local clinicians.

Among the 150 patients served during the medical mission was Audelio. After a visit with Dr. Aquino, he received the medicines and treatment needed to manage his disease.

Nearly 15 years after his initial diagnosis, Audelio finally found much-needed relief from his plaque psoriasis.

The post More Than Skin Deep: Patients in Mexico Receive Dermatological Care appeared first on Direct Relief.

An estimated 17 million people were under a storm warning Wednesday, and heavy rains were expected to extend from the South as far north as the Ohio Valley Thursday and Friday.

Cities like Lake Charles, Louisiana, have already experienced flash flooding, with knee-deep water reported in some areas.

Portions of Mississippi have received almost 10 inches of rain from the storm system so far. The National Weather Service stated that flooding is expected to continue throughout the region.

Extreme rain amounts of 12 inches or more could happen in localized areas, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Along with flash flooding and high winds, tornadoes may also result. A tornado watch is in effect for portions of southern Alabama, eastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi and western Florida, according to the National Weather Service.

Direct Relief continues to be in contact with 150 partner health clinics and facilities that may be affected by storm impacts. Direct Relief is also communicating with primary care associations in Texas and Louisiana, as well as the National Association of Community Health Centers and the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics. The Primary Care Association Emergency Management Advisory Coalition has also been contacted.

Atlantic hurricane season officially began June 1, and in preparation for storms to come, Direct Relief prepositioned medical supplies in communities vulnerable to the storms. The Hurricane Preparedness Packs were deployed to nine vulnerable U.S. states – including those threatened by Tropical Storm Cindy – as well as five Caribbean and Central American countries.

Together, the packs include enough supplies to treat tens of thousands of people for trauma or chronic conditions in the aftermath of hurricanes or other destructive weather events. The effort eliminates delivery delays and allows medical professionals to treat injured or ill patients quickly when an emergency strikes.

In emergency situations, people who depend on medications for chronic conditions – primarily diabetes, asthma, and hypertension – are particularly at risk if their medications are unavailable. People often leave their medication at home during mass evacuations. Also, power outages can compromise insulin or other supplies that require refrigeration.

People vulnerable to storms also tend to be those who are most vulnerable in general. Those with disabilities or language barriers may be unable to evacuate or receive early warning communications. Elderly residents and those without access to transportation may be unable to flee a storm’s path in time. Poverty is also a vulnerability factor, and people without the means to pay for a place to stay and transportation can also find themselves at risk.

Direct Relief is able to supply the hurricane preparedness packs free of charge to safety-net healthcare facilities, thanks to donations from individuals, pharmaceutical and medical corporations, and through a long-standing relationship with FedEx.

Key corporate donors to the program include Abbott, AbbVie, Alcon Laboratories, AstraZeneca, BD, CVS Corporation, Eli Lilly & Company, KVK-Tech, Magno-Humphries Labs, Merck, Pfizer, Sagent Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi Pasteur, Vaseline ® and others.

Should any facilities impacted by Tropical Storm Cindy request additional storm assistance, Direct Relief will respond immediately with emergency medicines and supplies.

(Editor’s note: This story was updated on June 22, 2017, at 9:45 a.m.)

The post As Tropical Storm Cindy Barrels Across Gulf, Emergency Supplies Ready appeared first on Direct Relief.

Fifty of Direct Relief’s nonprofit health centers and free clinic partners in nine states – Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia – will receive one of the packs, which Direct Relief has distributed each year since 2007. Each pack has supplies to treat 100 people for three to five days, and contains a range of items, including antibiotics, pain relievers, inhalers, behavioral health medications, first aid supplies and medications for chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension.

Direct Relief is also distributing hurricane preparedness modules to Haiti, Jamaica, Honduras, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. The international modules are much larger, each containing enough medicine and supplies to treat 3,000 people for one month following a disaster.

Beyond the regions impacted by Atlantic hurricanes, Direct Relief is deploying international hurricane preparedness modules to India, Vanuatu and other countries throughout the Indian Ocean Basin, Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.

The extensive pre-positioning effort eliminates delivery delays and enables medical professionals to treat injured or ill patients quickly when an emergency strikes. People who have evacuated their homes often lose access to basic supplies or medicine needed to control chronic conditions like diabetes. In times of emergency, local health centers are often under-equipped to handle the large influx of patients.

Five packs were opened in 2016 in response to Hurricane Matthew and historic flooding in Louisiana. In Ahoskie, North Carolina, the Roanoke Chowan Community Health Center opened a hurricane preparedness pack after Hurricane Matthew hit last fall, flooding their community and severely damaging a neighboring clinic. The clinic saw most of its medical supplies destroyed by flood waters, and was forced to operate out of a mobile clinic for months.

“We shared what we had in the pack to help tide them over and get back to operational,” said JoAnne Powell, a nurse at Roanoke Chowan. After resupplying the neighboring clinic, the health center sent the remainder to the county’s emergency services, which are staffed by volunteers and don’t receive public funding.

Emergency stockpiling efforts often have been abandoned because of the need for ongoing management to ensure quality when emergencies don’t occur. Direct Relief’s program addresses this challenge through annual resupply and by authorizing the materials to be absorbed into clinics’ general inventory to provide care for low-income patients at the end of hurricane season (November 30). The packs have also saved lives during other types of emergencies, including a severe outbreak of cholera in Haiti in 2010.

The Atlantic hurricane season started officially on June 1. On May 25, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center warned of an above-normal hurricane season this year, with 11 to 17 named storms, of which five to nine could become hurricanes, including two to four major hurricanes, with winds of 111 miles per hour or higher.

Direct Relief developed the hurricane preparedness program following its extensive responses to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, and has continued to expand the program in the years since.

Direct Relief is able to supply the hurricane preparedness packs free of charge to safety-net healthcare facilities, thanks to donations from individuals, pharmaceutical and medical corporations, and through a long-standing relationship with FedEx.

Key corporate donors to the program include Abbott, AbbVie, Alcon Laboratories, AstraZeneca, BD, CVS Corporation, Eli Lilly & Company, KVK-Tech, Magno-Humphries Labs, Merck, Pfizer, Sagent Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi Pasteur, Vaseline ® and others.

The post Threatened Communities Stocked with Emergency Medicine at Hurricane Season’s Start appeared first on Direct Relief.

Direct Relief is working with Syrian Relief and Development, a group of doctors and nurses that have been working in Western Aleppo and Idlib Province. Idlib was the site of a devastating gas attack in April, and the appalling incident attests to the horrors of war and offers a grisly reminder to the world of the unceasing humanitarian crisis in Syria.

Direct Relief has provided Syrian Relief and Development with field medic packs, which contain an assortment of portable medicines.

Many local hospitals and clinics have been bombed and destroyed, forcing doctors and nurses to treat patients wherever they can. Emergency medical tents have also been sent by Direct Relief, and the tents allow a temporary space for triage care to take place.

Nearly 5 million people have fled Syria since the beginning of the country’s civil war nearly six years ago, a conflict the United Nations has called the largest humanitarian crisis of our time. Another 9 million are internally displaced, meaning they’ve remained in the country but have had to flee their homes.

Within Syria, healthcare access is nearly impossible for people who have been displaced from their homes.

Direct Relief has worked to secure a large donation of critical antibiotics that will help fortify healthcare operations in the country. Other essential items, like emergency health kits, have also been sent. The kits meet the global standard for emergency response and can treat up to 1,000 patients for 30 days. A partnership was forged between United Muslim Relief and Syria Relief and Development to distribute critical medicines and supplies in the country.

Many Syrians have fled to neighboring countries. Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan alone now host 4.7 million refugees, and the health needs of people in these countries are numerous. Below are some small snapshots of what Direct Relief has done in these countries to help.

Turkey is home to almost 3 million registered Syrian refugees. Direct Relief has been working with a public and private partnership between private humanitarian aid organization, ANSAGIAD, and AFAD, a Turkish authority. These public/private partnerships are critical to effectively delivering aid where it’s needed most, to Syrians living in formalized camps as well as millions of refugees living in urban areas near the Turkey/Syria border.

ANSAGIAD aids 17 hospitals serving approximately 1 million people, and Direct Relief has sent two large donations of medicine to ANSAGIAD valued at nearly $3 million. A third shipment is currently in process.

A Direct Relief emergency health kit has also been sent to the Syrian American Medical Society in Turkey, for their work with internally displaced people inside Syria.

Lebanon is hosting an estimated 1 million Syrian refugees, over 90 percent of which live outside of formal camps. That means that these refugees are more likely to seek care in community clinics and hospitals, placing a strain on that country’s healthcare safety net facilities.

Basic health services, like dental care, are also often lacking for refugee communities, and Direct Relief has committed $50,000 to humanitarian group ANERA Lebanon for a dental program in northern Lebanon focused on Syrian refugee children. Days for Girls feminine hygiene kits were also donated for refugee women in Lebanon.

Jordan hosts 655,000 Syrian refugees, with roughly 80 percent living outside formal camps. Non-communicable diseases, like diabetes and heart disease, remain leading causes of death for refugees. To deal with this, Direct Relief gave $300,000 to the Royal Health Awareness Society for their Healthy Community Clinics program, which focuses on treating non-communicable diseases.

Tobacco use is also common among refugees, and smoking cessation gum was donated to the Royal Health Awareness Society. Other key items to manage chronic conditions, like insulin, needles and syringes have arrived in Amman and are being distributed to charitable healthcare providers by the Jordan Ministry of Health. Key donations have also been made to the Jordan Health Aid Society as well as the Directorate Royal Medical Services.

Efforts to assist to Syrians in need will continue into 2017, and Direct Relief remains committed to the health of those within that country’s borders and beyond.

The post As Syrian Civil War Wages On, Direct Relief Aids Refugees in Country and Beyond appeared first on Direct Relief.

Destroyed shelters and homes contributed to the rising number of injuries that were seen days and months after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck. Many of the skin conditions that affect the Nepali in these regions relate to prolonged exposure to the hot and humid climate, and with the loss of shelters or other permanent dwellings, bacterial infections like impetigo and fungal infections like ringworm are quick to take hold. Cataracts and other chronic eye conditions are prevalent as well.

The Helpers

Children’s Hospital for Eye, Ear/Nose/Throat, and Rehabilitation Services (CHEERS), is a large health care facility located in Bhaktapur, Nepal. With a mission to eliminate barriers that impede the achievement of human potential, CHEERS focuses on health as an entry point for promoting equity and social inclusion. As the first hospital in Nepal dedicated to pediatric eye and ear health, CHEERS helps children in need by providing comprehensive vision and auditory care. Their team of dedicated specialists provides services to Nepalese children who come from all over the country, oftentimes with conditions that are extremely difficult to treat.

Helping the Helpers

To support the critical work of CHEERS and other organizations throughout the world, Direct Relief and Unilever’s Vaseline® brand formed the Vaseline® Healing Project, a partnership set on healing the skin of 5 million people living in crisis and disaster by 2020. A key component of the project involves the deployment of dermatologists, doctors, and medical resources to areas of need around the world.

In 2016, over 11,000 patients were treated and nearly 6,200 dermatological evaluations were performed during medical missions facilitated by the Vaseline Healing Project.

In August 2016, Vaseline and Direct Relief partnered with CHEERS to conduct a medical mission in Bahrabise, Nepal. Doctors and medical staff from Kathmandu traveled to the facility to work alongside the specialists with the Vaseline Healing Project and provide comprehensive medical care to patients.

Over the course of three days, Nepali patients from areas devastated by the Gorkha earthquake, journeyed from their homes high in the Himalayas to see doctors and receive care. A team of 10 doctors treated over 2,000 patients – 481 of them children – and performed 429 dermatology evaluations and 43 eye surgeries. Treatment included the distribution of hearing aids, eye cataract removal surgery, and dermatological care to heal common skin infections including impetigo, ringworm and scabies.

In addition to CHEERS, Direct Relief has supported 23 partners since the earthquake, delivering more than 320,000 lbs. of requested emergency medicines and medical supplies with a wholesale value that exceeds $36 million.

Click below for more #helpthehelpers stories:

The World is Full of Helpers #HelptheHelpers

The post Helping People in the Himalayas See Again #HelptheHelpers appeared first on Direct Relief.

Over the next few weeks, Direct Relief will be sharing their stories, which serve as a constant reminder that even in the direst situations, there are helpers, bandaging wounds and saving lives.

Here they are:

A Helping Hand to Refugees in Jordan #HelptheHelpers

Helping Women in Peru Survive Cervical Cancer #HelptheHelpers

Helping People in the Himalayas See Again #HelptheHelpers

Helping Nepali Children with Disabilities Enjoy Healthy Lives #HelptheHelpers

Helping Patients in Afghanistan Manage Their Diabetes #HelptheHelpers

Protecting Front-Line Health Workers from Infectious Disease in Rural Haiti #HelptheHelpers

“There When the Community Needed Them Most”

U.S. Communities Hard-Hit by Hurricane Matthew; Volunteers Pitch In

Moved by Hurricane Matthew’s Impact, 8-Year-Old Raises Funds for Direct Relief

Zarway, a Midwife Success Story from Last Mile Health

Micheline’s Story: What it Takes to Beat Cervical Cancer in Haiti

The post The World is Full of Helpers #HelptheHelpers appeared first on Direct Relief.

Not only did the floodwaters tear homes from their foundations, but it broke gas lines, causing some buildings to engulf in flames.

While floodwaters have since receded, the recovery has just begun for many of West Virginia residents.

Direct Relief’s Response:

In the early hours of the emergency, Direct Relief offered immediate assistance to its existing network of healthcare partners in the affected region, as well as the West Virginia Primary Care Association. Requests for assistance came in right away, with partners expressing an urgent need for a large volume of supplies.

As of July 13, Direct Relief has provided the following health centers and clinics with 40 shipments of Rx medications, vaccines, diabetic supplies and insulin, and personal care items, along with emergency medical kits designed to equip health facilities with the medicines resources required to meet the needs of patients immediately after natural or manmade disaster.

• Access Health, a health center based in Raleigh County, was severely impacted by flooding. Still, the health center’s staff have operated a free clinic for flood victims at its Williamsburg location as well as a mobile pharmacy to reach the worst-hit flood areas. Access Health has also provided tetanus vaccinations (Tdap) to highway workers and patients and has partnered with the National Guard to distribute generators and supplies to families in need. To support their efforts, Direct Relief delivered an emergency health kit — a set of essential medicines and supplies designed for emergencies such as this.
• Cabin Creek Health Systems operates four clinic sites across West Virginia, one of which was severely impacted by the floods and, consequentially, experience an urgent need for Tdap, which Direct Relief provided. Direct Relief also provided medicine to another of Cabin Creek’s clinics, 30 miles from Clendenin Health Center.
• Roane County Family Health Care, a Direct Relief partner since 2009, has partnered with the West Virginia Primary Care Association to organize outreach efforts throughout the southern part of Roane County, where they have visited shelters to provide medical care and distribute supplies, including those delivered by Direct Relief.
• West Virginia Health Right, a free clinic in Charleston, has provided medical relief services throughout West Virginia’s most impacted areas. The clinic building has doubled as a large distribution hub for medical supplies throughout the community.

A photo posted by WVPB (@wvpublic) on Jun 24, 2016 at 6:26am PDT

Partners in Relief

The medical supplies, valued at more than $1 million, were donated by more than 25 companies. They include the following:

• 3M
• AbbVie
• Actavis
• Allergan
• Apotex
• AstraZeneca
• Baxter
• BD
• Boehringer Ingelheim
• Calmoseptine
• Colgate
• Covidien
• CVS
• GSK

• Henry Schein
• J&J (Janssen, J&J Consumer, LifeScan)
• Medtronic
• MedVantx
• Merck
• Pfizer
• Prestige
• Sanofi
• Sappo Hill
• Takeda
• Terry Town
• TEVA
• Unilever

Updated 17:27 PT, July 13, 2016

The post West Virginia: Flood Response appeared first on Direct Relief.

The International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) and Direct Relief have signed an agreement in Washington D.C. to expand and enhance the care provided to women receiving surgical repair for obstetric fistula, a devastating birth injury that occurs overwhelmingly in developing countries and typically leaves women socially ostracized and destitute in addition to physically injured.

FIGO, the standard-setting body for obstetric and gynecological care internationally, has developed a Global Competency-Based Fistula Surgery Training Manual to ensure quality of care for the repair of obstetric fistula.  Direct Relief, a nonprofit organization that is among the world’s largest providers of humanitarian medical material aid, has developed a complementary module of essential surgical supplies that are required to perform repair surgeries to the highest standards, consistent with the FIGO-identified competencies.

Obstetric fistula is a serious and debilitating childbirth injury primarily caused by prolonged and obstructed labor. In most cases of obstructed labor in which a fistula develops, the baby is stillborn. If untreated, a woman with obstetric fistula often will be left incontinent, stigmatized, and isolated as a result.  It is estimated that more than one million women across the globe are currently living with fistula, and this condition can be treated and often cured through what is often a simple surgical procedure.

However, in areas where obstetric fistula is most prevalent, women with the debilitating condition lack access to life-changing surgical care. Limited surgical capacity generally, even more limited specialized surgical training on fistula repair, and the costs of surgical supplies needed for the procedures are key factors that prevent access.

Direct Relief’s Fistula Repair Module, which contains a standardized set of high-quality medicines and surgical supplies, is the product of a multi-year collaboration between Direct Relief and an extensive network of fistula surgeons, nurses, physiotherapists, infectious disease specialists, fistula advocacy and funding organizations, other experienced medical professionals, and healthcare companies.

Sized to equip 50 fistula repair surgeries, each module contains medications such as antibiotics, analgesics, drugs for anesthesia, and marker dye; surgical supplies such as gloves, sutures, instruments, and catheters; nursing supplies including gauze, IV catheters, and surgical tape; and basic diagnostic equipment such as thermometers and blood pressure kits.

The Modules, valued at $5,000 or roughly $100 per surgical procedure, are delivered free-of-charge to approved members of Direct Relief’s Fistula Repair Provider Network, which now encompasses 55 healthcare institutions in 23 countries.  Several products included in the Module are donated by healthcare companies, including Ansell (surgical gloves), BD (needles and syringes), Bard (catheters), Johnson & Johnson companies Ethicon (sutures) and Janssen (bladder control medications), and Merck (bladder medication), as well as donations of consumer health products requested by fistula surgeons, such as Vaseline from Unilever.

Direct Relief has been supporting healthcare facilities with donations of essential medical supplies to help enable fistula repair surgeries since 2003, and each year the program has continued to expand and extend its reach.  Also, in partnership with the Fistula Foundation and UNFPA, Direct Relief publishes and maintains the Global Fistula Hub to aggregate and visualize information regarding obstetric fistula incidence, research, and surgical repair activities.

In 2015, Direct Relief delivered 60 modules – enough to enable 3,000 life-restoring surgeries for women in need – to facilities in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.In 2016, Direct Relief will be providing enough modules for over 5,000 surgeries.About FIGO:Established in 1954 in Geneva, Switzerland, FIGO was founded to bring professional obstetrical and gynecological associations from all over the world together to improve women’s health and rights and to reduce disparities in healthcare services available to women and newborns, as well as to advance the science and practice of obstetrics and gynecology. For more than 60 years, the organization has pursued its mission through advocacy, programmatic activities, capacity strengthening of member associations, education, and training. Now based in London, FIGO currently has members associations in 130 countries and territories across the globe.

The post FIGO and Direct Relief Join to Expand, Improve Obstetric Fistula Repair Surgery appeared first on Direct Relief.

With a goal of improving skin health for people in need across the world, Direct Relief’s activities will include the following:

• Products: Direct Relief is managing the charitable distribution of more than one million units of Vaseline products annually. Many of the Vaseline products will be included in existing Direct Relief kit programs – including Personal Care Packs, Obstetric Fistula Modules, Hurricane Preparedness Packs, Emergency Medical Backpacks, and Midwife Kits.

• Missions: Direct Relief is facilitating Healing Missions focused on improving skin health on the frontlines with health care partners. The organization will be helping coordinate dermatology volunteers who will be serving on the missions and providing dermatological care to areas of high need, including people affected by crisis situations (such as Syrian refugees) and communities that experience devastating emergencies. In addition to Vaseline products, Direct Relief will be providing essential medical aid (including anti-fungal and antibiotic medications) and supplies (gauze, bandages, alcohol, hand sanitizer, etc.) to help improve the skin health of people receiving care at the Healing Missions.

• Advisors: To help provide critical insight into the Healing Project, Direct Relief has create a Dermatology Advisory Board of skin health experts to provide guidance into program elements – such as data collection, training, and reporting impact.

• Data Collection:  Direct Relief is collecting data from a variety of Healing Project components to understand what gaps exist in skin health and product availability, which will determine program build-out in future years.

• Reporting: Direct Relief is working to map, track, and measure the impact of the program, via the development of an Interactive Aid Map that will live on the Vaseline website.

• Training: With input from the Dermatology Advisory Board, Direct Relief will be formulating an educational skin health curriculum to improve diagnoses and treatment on the frontlines.

The idea for The Healing Project stemmed from the insights of dermatologists Dr. Grace Bandow and Dr. Samer Jaber, who highlighted Vaseline Petroleum Jelly as one of the highest priority supplies to treat people suffering from skin conditions in refugee camps following a mission trip to Jordan. You can read their observations in this op-ed written for The Washington Post. This March, both Dr. Bandow and Dr. Jaber were part of the first Healing Mission in Jordan.

You can participate in the program by helping build a virtual kit to help a person in need.

The post The Healing Project: Medical Mission for Syrian Refugees appeared first on Direct Relief.

The National Association of Christian Churches Disaster Services (NACC) based in Houston, Texas and Community Med Assist in Oklahoma City, Okla. have received a combined total of 250 Family Emergency Kits. The kits contain basic hygiene items to comfort families who were forced to evacuate their homes.

Because of CVS Health’s and Vaseline’s commitment to emergency preparedness, the companies donated the care items which were organized into kits by local volunteers in the spring to be on standby for this type of need, enabling Direct Relief to respond quickly.

Additionally, N95 masks from Covidien and sunscreen from Neutrogena were sent to NACC to support volunteers who are helping with cleanup efforts of the damaged homes.

The Direct Relief Emergency Response Team continues to stay in touch with clinic and health center partners in the affected areas, ready to respond to further requests for assistance as the communities rebuild.

To support emergency response initiatives like this one, donate here.

The post Aid Delivered to Flood-Affected Communities in Texas & Oklahoma appeared first on Direct Relief.

Humanitarian charter a go:  Direct Relief has confirmed the donation of a humanitarian charter for Nepal. At this point, Direct Relief will use at least one-half of the plane’s capacity (102 “skids”), which may increase depending the space needed by a colleague nonprofit.

Emergency procurement of medical equipment:  As noted yesterday, when the Ministry of Health requested specific items and approved and pre-cleared their importation, they also asked for specific items that Direct Relief does not have in inventory (ventilators, fixation devices for fracture repair, imaging equipment, etc.)  Given the inflow of financial contributions, Direct Relief is procuring these items with a portion of the available funds and advised the MOHP of this.

Direct Relief’s team in Nepal met again with Ministry of Health officials to inquire if they had specific, pre-approved in-country vendors or suppliers, and if that is a more straightforward path. (We want to ensure that, if any equipment is procured, it is approved for use in the country and has a service contract and authorized techs in Nepal. This is to ensure the equipment can be repaired and serviced, if the need arises.)

Scaling plans to meet the health care needs in Nepal:  At this point, Direct Relief has revised its budgeting scenarios with the assumption of at least $1.5 million in designated funding. Direct Relief has begun an initial allocation for how these funds will be best used to assist Nepal in the most productive manner.

The availability of the charter is a huge force-multiplier. It allows Direct Relief to plan around transport costs, which are often among the largest expenses.

Direct Relief’s immediate focus includes:

• Procurement of specifically requested, high-priority equipment for the MOHP and other partners (several hospitals with which Direct Relief has been working on Fistula Repair have asked for similar types of items.)

• Emergency Airlift: Given the huge volumes of materials that Direct Relief has on hand and have been specifically requested by the MOHP and, increasingly, by partners as events unfold.  We’re working through the details now to sequence the flow of materials requested through available transport channels. The materials exceed 100 tons (200,000 lbs, most of which is IV solution) and have a high financial value (likely more than $50 million, with most of the value based on large volumes generic medications donated by Teva, Mylan, Actavis, and other generic producers.)

• Financial support to existing partners: Direct Relief is supporting the urgent requirements of existing partner organizations, including OneHeart and the hospitals with which Direct Relief has already been working on emergency obstetric care. We understand the important role they already were playing, and that they now are called upon to do even more.  These partners focus on women and children’s health, and because those particular people were already among the more vulnerable in Nepal, they are even more so now, so we believe that it’s important to shore up their programs.

Funding: The reddit community has raised more than $130,000 for Direct Relief’s earthquake response and comprises more than 30 percent of the 10,000-plus donations for Nepal.

Direct Relief’s response is only possible thanks to the generosity redditors and each person who’s lent their support.

Thank you.

Update: 4/29

Direct Relief staff met today with the Ministry of Health (M0H) in Nepal, which requested more than 320,000 lbs. (approx. 500 4x4x4 skid spaces) of medical items from Direct Relief’s available inventory. The MoH confirmed both the need for the specific items and a willingness to fast-track pre-approved items through customs. Direct Relief also met with the National Drug Administrator and the Director of International Partnership for the MoH, who both affirmed the Ministry’s need for such items and confirmed their importation requirements.

These approvals are essential at this stage of the response, as the typical bottle-necking that occurs post-disaster is occurring, and the offloading capacity at the airport, limited storage, and damaged roadways – as well as the unique topographical environment in Nepal – create significant challenges for in-country distribution.

Meanwhile in Dhading, a three-hour drive from Kathmandu, teams from Direct Relief and One Heart delivered emergency medical supplies to Besi District Hospital. While the hospital suffered only minor damage, it faces an average surge of 270 patients a day, up from 100. Undersupplied and underfunded even before the quake, the hospital is extremely low on basic medications and supplies such as antibiotics, IV solutions, and bandages. Patients, who before sought treatment for fractures and orthopedic surgeries in Kathmandu, now receive care in the hospital’s halls and outside.

With a large proportion of homes collapsed or visibly cracked, and people forced to sleep on the street for a lack of safe shelter, the team noted little improvement outside the hospital. People in remote areas are unable to reach hospitals for needed medical care, which makes doctors wary that more serious complications or outbreaks of cholera or other infections could take root.

Infusing essential medical material. Direct Relief, as one of the main channels for humanitarian medicines and supplies, is in discussions with the Ministry of Health and other agencies to provide medical material support at a national level. Meanwhile, Direct Relief has sent several emergency medical deliveries with teams bound for Nepal, with several more planned in the coming week.

Supporting local organizations. Direct Relief supports local organizations that focus on Maternal Child Health, specifically safe deliveries, and fistula repair.  Depending on the availability of funds, Direct Relief will provide the direct financial support necessary for rebuilding damaged/destroyed delivery centers and facilities.

Information gathering, sharing, coordination.  Working with NetHope members, Direct Relief developed a mobile app to conduct assessments of general facility status and capture specific health needs (screenshots below).  The app enables offline data collection (i.e. when a device is not connected to a network) and location information, which can be subsequently shared when connectivity exists.  Data will be automatically geo-tagged and published on the Esri platform.  The app and all information collected will be publically available and broadly shared.

For more information, visit reddit to read Direct Relief CEO Thomas Tighe’s candid “Ask Me Anything” on the response.

Direct Relief extends its deepest thanks to everyone who has supported the effort thus far.  Your support is critical to the many thousands of survivors of this devastating tragedy.

Update: 4/28

In Nepal: Direct Relief’s emergency response team is in and around Kathmandu.  They are connecting today with Doctors for You, a highly regarded partner organization that Direct Relief funded to deploy to the region.

The UN has activated its “cluster” system, which serves as the convening mechanism to (attempt to) coordinate information sharing and activities among various UN agencies with different responsibilities and assets as well as international organizations.  Direct Relief attended yesterday’s Health and Logistics cluster meetings, and then were scheduled to with the Ministry of Health to ensure Direct Relief’s resources and activities are delivered and conducted appropriately and guided by the local considerations.

Direct Relief is in regular communication with long-time partner One Heart Worldwide, a group with a strong presence in Nepal. One Heart has generously made available their facilities in Kathmandu as a temporary base of operations for the Direct Relief team.

One Heart Worldwide works in two districts of Nepal. In one area, 10 of the 20 birthing centers they staff (at Ministry of Health facilities) are utterly destroyed, and the other 10 are significantly damaged.  Overall, more than 70% of the structures in the 400,000 district had been destroyed, according to One Heart staff.

Emergency Shipments for Medical Teams En-route:  Direct Relief packed and delivered emergency shipments for two Nepal-bound medical teams yesterday, with several more in the works.  The two groups include:

• Reach Out World Wide: Eight trained doctors, firefighters, and paramedics are traveling to Kathmandu, Nepal today (Tuesday, April 27) to operate a pop-up clinic in a remote area of the disaster-affected region. Direct Relief has outfitted ROWW with more than 350 pounds of antibiotics, wound care, IV solutions, and other medicines and supplies.
• Mammoth Medical / World Wide Trekking: Four physicians and support staff are traveling to Nepal to provide surgical care to survivors of the earthquake.  Volunteers will be working out of Manamohan Memorial Hospital in Kathmandu, which is reportedly overwhelmed with patients and without internet communication. Direct Relief is shipping 250 pounds of antibiotics, wound care, and other needed medicines to support the mission.

Other activity: Direct Relief is in regular communication with roughly one dozen partner organizations based in Nepal, many of which are working to collect complete information, and other international organizations with which Direct Relief  often works such as NetHope, the consortium of Tech Companies and colleague nonprofits.

Medical Resources: Current, available inventory includes 300 pallets of materials that are likely to be needed and are being made available, include:

IV solutions (60 4x4x4 pallets total, estimated weight 108 – 120,000 lbs.):

• 48 pallets – sodium chloride .9%
• 10 pallets – dextrose/dopamine
• Two pallets – gentamicin

Hospital supplies (50 Pallets total):

• Gloves, surgical supplies, orthopedic splints and braces, IV tubing, masks, wound dressings, needles and syringes.

Rx Medications (primary care):

• Ceftriaxone INJ
• Antibiotics/Antibacterials – azithromycin, amoxicillin, doxycycline, sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim
• Antifungals (ketoconazole)

Rx Medications (chronic care):

• Pravastatin and Simvastatin for managing cholesterol
• Antihypertensives – Amlodipine, Lisinopril, enalapril
• Mental health – fluoxetine, venlafaxine

OTC pain relief medications:

• Adult – 350,000 bottles (40 pallets)
• Pediatric – 170,000 bottles (10 pallets)

Hygiene/personal care items:

• Vaseline petroleum jelly, lotion, lip balm
• Bar soap (70 cases/1 pallet)
• Other OTCs: ulcers/heartburn:  Nexium (esomeprazole) and lansoprazole (total 45 pallets)

Healthcare Company Support: Direct Relief is in discussions with healthcare companies to mobilize wound care, sterile gauze, sutures and other items based on an initial assumption of 20,000 injured with an injury pattern consistent with prior earthquake events. This estimate will be refined as local partners make specific requests and a complete information becomes available, in addition to the obvious concerns about traumatic injury, infrastructure, contaminated water, power, fuel supply lines, etc.

Thank you to everyone who’s helped the effort thus far. Your support is critical, and it makes a difference.

Update: 4/27 – Direct Relief ups Commitment to $500,000 Cash for Nepal Earthquake Response

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Direct Relief announced today an increase to $500,000 cash committed to the emergency response for the Nepal earthquake, up from the $50,000 announced initially on Saturday.

The increase reflects the urgency of the situation based on the still-unfolding information available, requests from longstanding partner organizations in Nepal, and the generous support that has been forthcoming from the public since Saturday’s quake.

As always, Direct Relief will use 100 percent of gifts designated for Nepal only for the response in Nepal.

Update: 4/26

While the situation in Nepal is still unfolding, initial assessments report more than 2,500 people killed, thousands injured, and hospitals and other medical facilities overwhelmed.

As has occurred in other major earthquakes to which Direct Relief has responded (Pakistan, Haiti, Indonesia), this quake has simultaneously created an enormous spike in need for emergency health services while destroying much of the already-inadequate health infrastructure through which such services are provided. The quake also has diminished the country’s general infrastructure (roads, power, water), which are needed to accommodate a much-needed surge in the support.

With news of the Nepal earthquake and in the subsequent hours, Direct Relief activated its emergency response effort and began contacting Nepal- and India-based healthcare partners to mobilize the resources needed to care for people in affected areas.

Direct Relief has a substantial medical inventory valued at over $100 million (wholesale), and yesterday made all of it available as needed for the response. Also, Direct Relief committed an initial $50,000 in cash — regardless of whether any specific Nepal-designated contributions are received — to jumpstart the response.

Direct Relief’s emergency response manager, Gordon Willcock, will be coordinating Direct Relief’s activities from Nepal, in concert with partner organizations and other international actors that also are responding. The general needs are evident and extreme, but on-the-ground coordination is essential to ensure that the resources being mobilized and delivered are targeted, well managed, and distributed efficiently within the very dynamic situation.

Since 2008, Direct Relief has delivered more than $1,000,000 of medicines and supplies to excellent, committed healthcare provider partners in Nepal, primarily those working to improve maternal and child health. The support has been ongoing, but also last year involved responding to massive flooding in the region.

With profound sadness for the tragedy that occurred in an instant yesterday, Direct Relief is responding as fast and expansively as possible to ensure that the effects of this disaster do not claim additional lives and to help those who have survived overcome the enormous challenges that exist and will remain for an extended period.

Those wanting to support the response can do so by making a donation here: http://bit.ly/nepal_quake

Donate Now

100 percent of donations for Nepal are used exclusively to help people in Nepal.

The post Nepal Earthquake Response Update appeared first on Direct Relief.

The packs will assist health workers and responders in their emergency preparedness and response capabilities and will also be used for street outreach and health fairs.

Modeled after Direct Relief’s Medical Reserve Corps packs, these specially designed backpacks contain supplies and equipment to meet a variety of disaster-related health needs, including infection control, diagnostics, trauma care, and personal protection tools.

Some are designated as ongoing support for disaster-affected areas, including equipping every mobile medical unit operated by New York and New Jersey health centers as well as packs designated for clinics affected by the tornadoes in Moore, Okla. Other packs will go to Direct Relief partners across the nation who requested the packs for their outreach programs.

The ability to go to where the patient is located and provide care is a unique and essential service of health centers and clinics that is critical both in emergencies as well as routine health care.

The backpacks were organized with help from local volunteers, including students from Bishop Garcia Diego High School; a dozen nursing students from Santa Barbara City College; and employees from Vaseline and CVS Health stores, who supported the initiative.

The post 400 Medical Outreach Packs Bound for Responders Across the U.S. appeared first on Direct Relief.