Brazil’s fatal flooding in May of this year, caused by torrential rainfall, has killed at least 169 people and displaced more than 600,000. Experts have said that the vast scale of the disaster is due to climate change, and that massive displacements and deadly weather events like this will become increasingly common in a rapidly warming world. 
  
For Duani Teixeira, a businessman in the municipality of Xangri-lá who participated in the rescues, it was the beginning of something entirely new. Working with colleagues, he founded a new NGO, S.O.S Irmãos do Litoral, focused on helping Rio Grande do Sul recover from the disaster. 
  
“I think the gravity of the situation brought to the surface a sense of urgency and responsibility that they had to do something about it,” said Grangeiro, an acquaintance of Teixeira’s who texted him amid the flooding to ask if he needed help and played a key role at the organization. “They couldn’t return to their regular lives. They had to keep helping.” 
  
Getting people away from the most immediate danger was only the beginning. Hundreds of thousands of displaced people needed food, clothing, hygiene products, and other necessities. An outbreak of leptospirosis from contaminated water killed several individuals.  
  
The brand-new NGO pivoted fast, turning its attention to finding and distributing supplies to over 150 shelters and health care centers, and procuring food for volunteer-run kitchens. “Wherever there were two or three grandmas, there was a kitchen,” Grangeiro said. The community response was tremendous — it’s rare to meet a local who didn’t donate time or money, she recalled — but organizing and transporting food and supplies, and auditing the recipients to make sure they’d use donations efficiently, was a huge effort. 
  
As part of a larger response to the disaster, Direct Relief helped S.O.S Irmãos do Litoral meet emergency needs, providing a $50,000 grant along with nine pallets of nutritional and hydration products.  
  
“We didn’t have enough supplies and food to help those who were undernourished,” Grangeiro recalled. “It was really efficient what they sent.” 

In retrospect, Grangeiro said, it was astonishing that she and her colleagues formed a licensed NGO in four days, found donors able to help, and developed procedures for procurement, oversight, and distribution. The group accomplishes its widespread work primarily through the work of volunteers. Members are so focused on helping — and so aware of the need — that they have to be reminded to go home and rest. 
  
The floodwaters have receded and many have returned home, but the group’s work is only beginning. They’ve pivoted again, focusing on providing food and necessities to organizations working on the ground. “We became…specialized in finding serious projects that are still helping,” she said. “The challenge was to find those projects that were doing a very good job of reaching people.” 

S.O.S Irmãos do Litoral’s members are keenly aware that the danger is not over. A return to normalcy is years away for affected communities in Rio Grande do Sul. The region is still alarmingly vulnerable to climate disasters. 
  
“We’re facing future tragedies ahead,” Grangeiro said 
  
But she’s heartened by the outpouring of support she’s seen, and by a sense of togetherness and responsibility in communities across the state. “Everyone was touched, everyone did something,” she said. “What we did here changed everybody.”   

The post Amid Brazil’s Deadly Floods, Daring Water Rescues Were Only the Beginning  appeared first on Direct Relief.

The shipments contained 2.8 million defined daily doses of medication and supplies, including vitamins, insulin, pain management medications, and more.

24/7 Maternity Services Continue in Haiti, Despite Ongoing Unrest

In recent weeks, Haiti, particularly the capital city of Port-au-Prince, has been engulfed in a deepening crisis marked by escalating violence and insecurity. The situation reached a critical point with the declaration of a state of emergency in early March after a mass prison break that occurred as gangs overran two of the country’s largest prisons, leading to the release of thousands of inmates and further exacerbating the already volatile situation.

In response to the ongoing unrest, Direct Relief provided $1 million in financial support to nine healthcare organizations providing essential health services across the country, including Maison de Naissance, a non-profit maternal health center.  The grant helped sustain 24/7 maternity services, providing support for personnel salaries, medical supplies, and fuel during what the Maison de Naissance staff described as the most difficult 3 months experienced since the clinic’s inception in 2004. 

Brazil Flood Response Continues

Heavy rain hit southern Brazil last weekend, exacerbating the already extreme flooding the region has undergone since April. Resulting health issues include respiratory illnesses and a bacterial disease called leptospirosis that has already killed more than a dozen people.

Direct Relief’s response efforts in the region continue. With support from PAHO (the Pan American Health Organization), the organization delivered 100 emergency medical backpacks to the Brazilian Ministry of Health (SAES – Secretariate of Specialized Healthcare) to equip their mobile medical teams providing health services in the flood zones. The organization is also coordinating with the MOH on other medical supplies that are in short supply.

Fires Burn in California, New Mexico

As of Friday morning, the Point Fire in Sonoma County, California, has burned over 1,200 acres, destroyed three structures, and damaged two others. Direct Relief received a request for an emergency shipment of supplies (containing 50 hygiene kits and 100 N-95 masks) from Alliance Medical Center on Tuesday, which arrived a day later. The fire is now 75 percent contained, and evacuation orders were lifted on Wednesday.

Direct Relief has also recently supported Alliance Medical Center with funding to install solar panels and a backup battery system. This microgrid has now been operational for a month and provides up to 15 hours of resilient, clean power. The Center is in an area called “the geyser” — extreme winds and fire threat cause frequent PSPS (Power Safety Public Shutoff) events and loss of power.

Earlier this week, Sue Labbe, CEO of Alliance, said that “the smoke, ash and air pollutants from the fire are definitely impacting our air quality but we remain open, and we are continuing to see patients. We do feel relieved knowing that if the grid power is cut off, we will be able to continue to serve our community thanks to the solar Power for Health microgrid.”

In New Mexico, the South Fork Fire and Salt Fire, which have grown over 23,000 acres with 0% containment thus far, have caused two known deaths, destroyed approximately 1,400 structures, and forced more than 8,000 people to evacuate. Compounding the problem, thunderstorms that began Wednesday afternoon led to flash flood warnings for areas that were newly burned. Roads have been closed, and communications systems across the affected area have been down, after public communications towers and essential power lines were destroyed by the blaze. 
 
Direct Relief has offered support to the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, local community health centers, and tribal contacts in the area, and will continue to respond to needs as requested.

Operational Snapshot

WORLDWIDE

Over the last week, Direct Relief shipped more than 300,000 defined daily doses of medication outside the U.S.

Countries that received medical aid over the past week included:

UNITED STATES

Direct Relief delivered 571 shipments containing over three tons of medications during the past seven days to organizations, including the following:

YEAR TO DATE

Since January 1, 2024, Direct Relief has delivered 11,100 shipments to 1,835 partner organizations in 54 U.S. states and territories and 75 countries.

These shipments contained 206.8 million defined daily doses of medication totaling 3 million lbs.

IN THE NEWS

• Climate Change Hurts Mothers and Babies. Midwives Are on the Frontlines. – Angels in Medicine
• Biden’s Green Investments Aren’t Just Benefiting Cities – Progressive.org
• Community Health Centers’ New Crisis: The Need for Backup Power – Chronicle of Philanthropy
• Direct Relief Announces Appointment of Three Directors to Board – 3BL Media

The post Maternal Health Update from Haiti, Brazil Flood and California Responses Continue appeared first on Direct Relief.

The shipments contained 7 million defined daily doses of medication and supplies, including cancer treatments, diabetes medications, trauma care essentials, and more.

Increasing Access to Cancer Treatment in Mongolia

A significant oncology drug donation by Direct Relief arrived in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia this month, marking the organization’s first-ever direct donation to a healthcare provider partner in the country. Ulaanbaatar, the nation’s capital, is home to 1.7 million people.

This donation was facilitated alongside Direct Relief partner organization, the Onom Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing healthcare, research, and democracy building in Mongolia. The medication has been distributed to two medical complexes in Ulaanbaatar providing care to cancer patients, The First National Hospital, and the Maternal and Children’s Hospital.

Mongolia has the world’s highest rate of cancer mortality per capita, and more than one in five deaths in Mongolia is caused by cancer, mainly of liver and stomach, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The agency also reported that Mongolia has the highest incident rate of liver cancer in the world, with an age-standardized rate per 100,000 patients of 78.1, while 75% of all liver cancer cases occur in Asia. Additionally, according to the National Institutes of Health, almost three-quarters of cancers in Mongolia are diagnosed at a late stage, resulting in a low survival rate and a high fatality rate.

Field Medic Packs Depart for Brazil After Floods

This week, 100 field medic packs departed Direct Relief’s Santa Barbara warehouse requested by the Pan American Health Organization for healthcare providers responding to the devastating flood that impacted Brazil in May. These packs include supplies and equipment to meet a variety of prevalent disaster-related medical issues, including infection control, diagnostics, trauma care, and personal protection tools.

Operational Snapshot

WORLDWIDE

Over the last week, Direct Relief shipped more than 4 million defined daily doses of medication outside the U.S.

Countries that received medical aid over the past week included:

UNITED STATES

Direct Relief recently donated two pharmaceutical-grade refrigeration systems to MLK Health Center and Pharmacy in Louisiana. The refrigerators will be used to increase the clinic’s insulin storage capabilities. One system will be used at the clinic’s emergency shelter in preparation for this year’s upcoming hurricane season.

Direct Relief delivered 477 shipments containing eight tons of medications during the past seven days to organizations, including the following:

YEAR TO DATE

Since January 1, 2024, Direct Relief has delivered 10.1K shipments to 1,762 partner organizations in 54 U.S. states and territories and 73 countries.

These shipments contained 181.8 million defined daily doses of medication totaling 2.9 million lbs.

IN THE NEWS

• Direct Relief prepares 5 million N95 masks for fire season in Southern California – KEYT
• Qlik Connect 2024 – the crucial role of data and AI in retail and non-profit organizations – Diginomica

The post Cancer Treatment Arrives in Mongolia, Continued Brazil Flood Response appeared first on Direct Relief.

The shipments contained 6.4 million defined daily doses of medication and supplies, including trauma care supplies, vitamins, pain management medications, and more.

Brazil Flood Response

As Brazil continues to recover from devastating flooding earlier this month, Direct Relief is shipping emergency medical supplies and providing funding for healthcare providers on the ground. The flooding has been categorized as an environmental catastrophe comparable to Hurricane Katrina, impacting all of the 497 municipalities in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul state.

In coordination with the Brazil California Chamber of Commerce, Direct Relief has been working to identify local organizations providing relief in the affected areas. Direct Relief has issued an initial $50,000 grant to local NGO, S.O.S Irmãos do Litoral, to support their aid distribution efforts, and provided S.O.S Irmãos do Litoral with additional support, including nine pallets of nutritional products.

S.O.S Irmãos do Litoral has been actively responding since the flooding began on May 12, conducting water rescues with their fleet of boats, jet skis, and high-water vehicles. Operating a large warehouse in Rio Grande do Sul, S.O.S Irmãos do Litoral has delivered over 400 tons of aid to over 150 shelters and primary healthcare centers in flood-impacted areas.

Direct Relief will also be delivering 100 field medic packs requested by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). These packs include supplies and equipment to meet a variety of prevalent disaster-related medical issues, including infection control, diagnostics, trauma care, and personal protection tools.

Dengue Treatment Kits Packed for Puerto Rico

In response to recent dengue outbreaks in Puerto Rico, Direct Relief has prepared ten dengue treatment kits to aid first responders treating patients with dengue fever. There is no cure for the disease, but the kits include items to prevent transmission as well as help manage symptoms as the body fights off infection. The kits include mosquito-repellent wipes and spray, oral rehydration salts, acetaminophen for adults and children, and thermometers.

Direct Relief is donating these kits to help limit the spread of dengue and to reduce fever, dehydration, and pain among people who have contracted it. Each kit is designed to prevent dengue for about 1,000 patients and treat mild cases for about 100 patients.

Operational Snapshot

WORLDWIDE

Over the last week, Direct Relief shipped more than 5.7 million defined daily doses of medication outside the U.S.

Countries that received medical aid over the past week included:

UNITED STATES

Direct Relief delivered 297 shipments containing almost two tons of medications during the past seven days to organizations, including the following:

YEAR TO DATE

Since January 1, 2024, Direct Relief has delivered 9,594 shipments to 1,722 partner organizations in 54 U.S. states and territories and 72 countries.

These shipments contained 175.9 million defined daily doses of medication totaling 2.7 million lbs.

IN THE NEWS

• Limited care: Not all reproductive health care services are accessible in Lompoc – Santa Maria Sun
• 3M Named Official Respiratory Protection Sponsor for Direct Relief, Pledges 5 Million N95 Respirators Ahead of Hurricane, Wildfire Season – Market Watch

The post Supporting Flood Relief in Brazil, Puerto Rico Dengue Response appeared first on Direct Relief.

The shipments contained 21 million defined daily doses of medication and supplies, including insulin, prenatal vitamins, oral rehydration tablets, and more.

Medications Shipped to Flooded Communities in Texas

Direct Relief has been responding to communities impacted by extreme weather over the past week, including in Texas, where heavy rainfall inundated communities in the eastern part of the state, displacing thousands and requiring water rescues for hundreds of people. Multiple counties received large amounts of rainfall, including Harris County, which contains Houston.

Direct Relief shipped requested medical aid this week to health organizations serving flooded communities, including San Jose Clinic, a nonprofit free clinic that serves uninsured or underinsured people in Houston. “During the flood, we had some patients unable to make it to appointments as they were unable to leave their home and the same for some of our team,” San Jose staff reported. Water purification tablets, antibiotics, personal protective gear, disinfecting products, and other medical essentials were shipped this week to the clinic.

TOMAGWA HealthCare Ministries, a free clinic located in Tomball, Texas, also requested support, and Direct Relief shipped personal care packs, filled with essentials like soap, shampoo, toothpaste, and more to support people displaced from their homes due to the floodwaters.

Floods Inundate Brazil with More Rain Expected in Coming Days

In Brazil, devastating flooding has coursed through more than 85 percent of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, where more than 113 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced. More rain is expected this weekend, and Direct Relief is coordinating with the Brazilian Health Regulatory Authority and the Pan American Health Organization, or PAHO, to assess medical needs and requests.

Health impacts from flooding can span from water- and vectorborne illnesses to exacerbation of chronic conditions as people are displaced without access to medications needed to manage their health. Direct Relief maintains an inventory of medications commonly requested after disasters and is ready to respond.

Operational Snapshot

WORLDWIDE

Over the last week, Direct Relief shipped more than 13.9 million defined daily doses of medication outside the U.S.

Countries that received medical aid over the past week included:

UNITED STATES

Direct Relief delivered 419 shipments containing over five tons of medications during the past seven days to organizations, including the following:

YEAR TO DATE

Since January 1, 2024, Direct Relief has delivered 8,374 shipments to 1,607 partner organizations in 54 U.S. states and territories and 69 countries.

These shipments contained 146.9 million defined daily doses of medication totaling 2.5 million lbs.

IN THE NEWS

A Global Relief Organization Keeps the Spigot Open for Community Healthcare Providers Closer to Home – Inside Philanthropy

AWMH Donates $100,000 to Direct Relief’s Flood Relief Efforts in Brazil – Metallica.com

Direct Relief Commits $3 Million to Jamaica for Hurricane Resilience – Philanthropy News Digest

The post Direct Relief Responding to Flooding, Extreme Weather in U.S., Brazil appeared first on Direct Relief.

This latest storm comes on the heels of Cyclone Batsirai, which killed at least 120 people, and Tropical Storm Ana, which killed at least 51 people, according to the country’s disaster relief agency.

“The winds from storm Dumako are not as strong as those from Cyclone Batsirai. But you have to be careful about floods and landslides, which could cause deaths,” the director-general of Madagascar’s disaster management officer Gen. Elack Andriakaja told the AP.

Madagascar and other southern African nations have faced an increased number of cyclones and tropical storm activity in recent years as Indian Ocean temperatures have risen. The  U.N. Meteorological Organization has stated that the trend is likely to continue.

Even as the island nation has faced deadly rainfall levels and flooding in recent weeks, over 1 million people are experiencing famine due to the worst drought Madagascar had faced in 40 years—a pattern that countries in the region were told to prepare for by the  U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Another storm system, Tropical Storm Emnati, could make landfall in Madagascar early next week, and U.N. meteorologists have said that the region can expect 8 to 12 more storms this season.

Direct Relief is in communication with health care providers in Madagascar to understand what is needed on the ground and how to optimally respond.

Brazil Flooding and Landslides

Across the globe, Brazil has faced a series of storms over the past three months, resulting in severe flooding and landslides which have affected more than 40 cities across multiple states. Yesterday, Petrópolis, a city located in the mountains northeast of Rio de Janeiro, experienced a record 10.2 inches of rain in 24 hours, which bested the previous record of 6.6 inches, set in 1952. The amount of rain was equivalent to a month’s downpour in just three hours, which triggered flash floods and a landslide that killed at least 110 people and left at least 400 people homeless. Dozens more remain missing, according to the AP.

“The situation is almost like war… Cars hanging from poles, cars overturned, lots of mud and water still,” Rio de Janeiro Governor Cláudio Castro told journalists.

Search and rescue teams continue to respond and have saved 24 people so far, according to the Brazilian government. More heavy rain is forecast for today.

The landslides and flooding in Petrópolis follow last December’s flooding in Bahia that killed 21 people and the January landslides in São Paulo and Minas Gerais, which killed more than 40 people. In 2011, the Petrópolis area saw landslides and flooding which killed more than 900 people.

 Direct Relief staff is in communication with local organizations, offering support as needed. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the organization has built a strong relationship with the Ministry of Health in Rio de Janeiro, and Direct Relief has shipped personal protective equipment to support the response.

Direct Relief has sent $33 million worth of aid to Brazil and $6.7 million worth of aid to Madagascar since 2010.

Chris Alleway contributed additional reporting.

The post Severe Weather Compounds Challenges in Brazil, Madagascar appeared first on Direct Relief.

“Limited availability of medical-grade oxygen was a chronic challenge before the Covid pandemic, but it has been a recurring, acute crisis since it’s essential to treat people who become most ill from the virus,” said Thomas Tighe, Direct Relief President and CEO. “That’s why Direct Relief is devoting focused resources to increase availability in the highest-need areas.”

Direct Relief’s commitment adds to more than $15 million invested already by the organization to respond to recurring crises of Covid-19-related oxygen shortages by providing, among other things, more than 33,000 oxygen concentrators reaching healthcare providers in 52 countries — from the U.S. to Brazil, India, Nepal, Yemen, and more.

Investing in Sustainable Oxygen Production

Even before the pandemic, medical-grade oxygen was scarce in much of the world, in part due to cost and the need to transport oxygen cylinders hundreds of miles via cryogenic tankers, from production plants to hospitals, then back for refilling. Pandemic-induced supply chain issues have only exacerbated the problem, especially in countries relying exclusively on imports.

“We’ve seen repeatedly that Covid-19 causes a sudden spike in demand for medical oxygen that completely outpaces the local supply,” said Emergency Response Director Dan Hovey. “No surge capacity exists for oxygen.”

A sustainable alternative to imported oxygen exists in pressure swing adsorption (PSA) plants, which separate oxygen from other gases onsite at hospitals.

Direct Relief has funded permanent oxygen-generating plants at hospitals in several countries to ensure a reliable oxygen supply. The organization is also joining Every Breath Counts, a public-private coalition including UN agencies, businesses, academic institutions, and Build Health International, to build and restore PSA plants in countries such as Dominica, India, Nepal, and Madagascar.

PSA plants can meet the oxygen needs at most facilities; however, in low-resource settings, PSA plants often require repair.

For example, in Nepal last year, as the delta variant swept the country, Dhulikhel Hospital needed 150-200 oxygen cylinders every 24 hours to care for patients in its 136 Covid-19 beds. Its PSA plant was only generating 60 cylinders per day. Staff member Sanil Shrestha described waiting overnight at a local oxygen factory in the hopes of being able to bring more supplies to Dhulikhel’s patients.

With funding from Direct Relief, Build Health International diagnosed the problem and got Dhulikhel’s plant running at full capacity.

To track the estimated need for oxygen need in low & middle-income countries, Direct Relief, in collaboration with Every Breath Counts, developed a map and data dashboard. The tool also displays crowdsourced reports of oxygen plants requiring repair.

“Organizations like Direct Relief have an absolutely critical role to play in preventing oxygen shortages in low-resource settings,” said Leith Greenslade, the coordinator of Every Breath Counts and an expert on oxygen supply shortages. “We need very nimble humanitarian agencies that can almost operate in a parallel universe.”

The post Direct Relief to Boost Global Oxygen Supply Amid Covid-19-Caused Shortages with $5 Million Investment appeared first on Direct Relief.

The donations to the Americas are coming from a purchase of 89 million masks by Direct Relief, among the largest single PPE purchases by a charitable nonprofit. The masks, bought from BYD Co., will fill more than one hundred 40-foot shipping containers.

“Direct Relief continues to do everything it can to mobilize private support and respond to the still-urgent need to protect health workers and members of the public as Covid infections rage, particularly in areas of the US that have had limited access and neighboring countries where public funding is overstretched,” said Direct Relief President and CEO Thomas Tighe. “We’re deeply thankful for the public support that has enabled this large-scale infusion of high-quality PPE at this critical time.”

Direct Relief has built strong working relationships across Latin America with national health ministries, multilateral organizations and local health organizations.

In Ecuador, Direct Relief is shipping three containers to the Ministry of Public Health, which has informed Direct Relief of plans to use them in vaccination campaigns in rural areas where vaccine hesitancy is higher than in cities.

“The support of your organization has been enormous for us throughout the pandemic,” said Luis Armijos of the National Directorate of International Cooperation and Relations at Ecuador’s Ministry of Public Health.

In Panama, some of the masks will support vaccination campaigns for students and school staff, according to Fundación Unidos por Panamá, Direct Relief’s in-country partner.

In Mexico, 20 million masks have been allocated to INSABI, which provides health care to about 33 million people who fall outside of the country’s Social Security system.

Funding for the 89 million mask purchase came from private donors, including The Coca-Cola Foundation, the global philanthropic arm of The Coca-Cola Company.

In addition to PPE, Direct Relief is helping transport Covid-19 vaccines to Mexico and other countries throughout the Americas, the most recent delivery of which was a 2.7 million-dose donation from Moderna to the Government of Mexico. In total, Direct Relief has helped ship more than 12 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to the Americas.

Delivering PPE in the US AND Globally

Direct Relief is also reserving 10 million masks for US safety-net health facilities, including Federally Qualified Health Centers and Free and Charitable Clinics.

Another six shipping containers with 5.3 million masks have been allocated to Indonesia. Other shipments are planned for health care providers in Armenia, Fiji, Jordan, Lebanon and the West Bank.

Once the latest round of mask deliveries is complete, Direct Relief will have donated nearly 300 million PPE units since the pandemic began.

This includes 228 million protective masks, 93 million of which were donated through CAF-Africa, an initiative supporting community health workers on the frontlines of Africa’s Covid response.

It also includes 950 tons of PPE sent to Brazil – specifically, nearly 9 million Level 1 medical isolation gowns requested by the Brazilian Ministry of Health for facilities nationwide – part of a larger donation of 80 million gowns from McKesson to Direct Relief.

The post Direct Relief Donating 60 Million KN95 Masks for Covid-19 Fight in Latin America and the Caribbean appeared first on Direct Relief.

On Jan. 14 and 15, dozens of Brazilians asphyxiated in the Amazonas state capital of Manaus after oxygen supplies ran out, according to the Washington Post. “There is a collapse in the health-care system in Manaus,” Brazilian Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said at the time. According to the Post, Manaus is short by the amount of oxygen needed for 70 critical patients per day.

Local facilities in Amazonas can produce less than half of the daily oxygen supply needed for patients in Manaus, a city of 2.2 million people, isolated in the vast Amazon rain forest with no drivable highways connecting it to the rest of Brazil. Additional oxygen comes by truck from Venezuela, by week-long boat trip from eastern Brazil, or flown in by the Brazilian Air Force.

During the first wave of the pandemic last April, Manaus became the first city in Brazil forced to bury Covid victims in a mass grave. So many of the city’s residents had been infected by mid-2020 that researchers thought the city was becoming a natural experiment with herd immunity.

Instead, a new surge hit the city in December, and by January, more than 100 people a day were dying in the city. Worse, according to the BMJ, many new patients are infected with the P.1 variant of the Covid virus, which appears to have evolved to make it more infectious.

On January 25, Amazonas Governor Wilson Miranda Lima issued a global appeal for oxygen and other medical supplies:

“This second wave has hit us with colossal force… Right now, the ‘Lungs of the Earth’ need oxygen. We are in dire need of medical and hospital supplies, medical oxygen, and resources for the logistical support in order for these materials to be delivered as quickly as possible in the proportion and speed that Amazonas needs.”

Direct Relief responded to the plea, granting $530,000 for purchasing an estimated 350 oxygen concentrators needed to help keep the region’s Covid patients alive.

Direct Relief made the grant to the Foundation for Amazon Sustainability. The donation was facilitated by the Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force (GCFTF, an international collaboration of state and provincial governors) and Health Bridges International (HBI, a health-focused NGO), which sought a solution to the Amazonas oxygen crisis and turned to Direct Relief.

The first 240 concentrators arrived Saturday in Manaus. The Amazonas Secretary of the Environment, Eduardo Taveira, will oversee their distribution.

“The priority is to serve rural areas and avoid the impact of the second wave on the most vulnerable communities,” Mr. Taveira said.

Oxygen is one of the most common treatment needs for patients sick with Covid-19, as the disease lowers the lungs’ ability to absorb oxygen from the air. Oxygen concentrators pull oxygen directly out of the air rather than requiring cylinders filled with oxygen, at a time when oxygen tanks and other oxygen delivery technologies have been in short supply around the world.

This is only the latest in a long series of actions Direct Relief has taken over the past year to provide oxygen to patients who otherwise wouldn’t receive it. As word of the disease spread in January 2020, Direct Relief assessed the likely needs for medicine and equipment and began securing supplies. Among these supplies were thousands of oxygen concentrators that the organization ordered and has delivered to health providers across 45 countries, including the U.S. — from Arizona and Los Angeles to Lebanon and Yemen.

“Ending a pandemic that threatens everyone demands the type of international collaboration exemplified here by the government of Amazonas, FAS, GCFTF, HBI, and others,” said Direct Relief President and CEO Thomas Tighe. “This project will deliver life-saving support to communities in need, and we are so grateful that the aforementioned partners joined forces to execute as quickly as possible.”

The post Direct Relief Donates $530,000 to Bring Oxygen to Covid-Stricken City in the Brazilian Amazon  appeared first on Direct Relief.

Outsiders such as loggers, miners, and even health care workers brought the disease into remote communities, sources said. Indigenous people living in urban settings, isolated from their communities, often found themselves unable to make ends meet.

Many groups lost disproportionate numbers of their elders – and with them, vital ancestral knowledge and traditions, according to organizations working directly with Indigenous groups.

And yet, from the beginning, when Covid-19 first reared its head, Indigenous people took action to safeguard themselves and their communities, fight for legal protection, and treat the disease when it appeared among them.

“Indigenous people have been hit badly by coronavirus, worse than anyone else. And at the same time, they have stepped up as no one else [has],” said Margarita Mora, managing director of partnerships at the nonprofit group Nia Tero, which works closely with Indigenous communities.

“People tend to see them as hapless victims and passive, but they’ve been very active [during the pandemic], as they always have been,” said Glenn Shepard, an anthropologist at Brazil’s Emilio Goeldi Museum who studies and works closely with Indigenous groups in the country. “They’ve never really left it up to someone else to take care of themselves, or they’d be gone.”

An “invisible enemy”

Although Indigenous groups in the Amazon have been disproportionately affected by the flu and other epidemics, in some respects, Covid-19 has meant a learning curve, said Rayanne Cristine Máximo França, a nurse, activist, and member of the Baré region of the Rio Negro Basin who studies the impacts of development on Indigenous groups.

“For many years, the Indigenous people had enemies, the prospectors, racism, the state, and others, but we have learned to face these enemies,” she wrote in an email in Portuguese. “I call Covid-19 an “invisible enemy.”

The immunological history of many Indigenous communities is different from that of the general population, a fact that França said has played a role in their vulnerability to past pandemics. However, when it comes to Covid-19, she said that social vulnerabilities – in particular, a lack of access to health services – has also played a major role.

Oscar Daza Gutierrez, human rights coordinator for the Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the Colombian Amazon (OPIAC) saw the situation similarly.

“We are Indigenous peoples who are used to different living conditions, and perhaps in many circumstances we do not have the same resistance as the rest of society may have,” he wrote in Spanish. However, “in general, in the Amazon there is a lack of infrastructure and different factors that, if they existed, would improve the living conditions of us as Indigenous peoples.”

In particular, sources said, some Indigenous communities lack access to reliable, well-equipped primary care, and more sophisticated facilities are sometimes a plane ride away, França said.

Fighting back

Indigenous groups in several South American countries, angry with what they see as government inaction and lack of protection, have led protests and even taken legal action.

Perhaps most famously, Indigenous groups, in a case presented by the Indigenous lawyer Luiz Eloy Terena, accused the government of Brazil of failing to uphold its duty to protect them from Covid-19. In August, the country’s supreme court ruled in their favor.

In addition, groups like the Federation of Indian Organizations of the Rio Negro (FOIRN), which represents more than 20 groups in a massive region, began preparations for Covid-19 before the virus had made inroads into South America, working with the military, churches, municipalities and other partners to prepare for the virus, Mora said.

“They closed movement of people out of indigenous territories,” she said, in a move intended to slow the virus’s spread into the area.

Even on a smaller scale, many indigenous groups took steps to isolate themselves and prevent people who might have the disease from entering their communities. Mora described members of the Wayana people in Suriname closing small local airports and asking flight companies not to land there.

Sources also described indigenous communities spreading out for safety, drawing on a long history of dealing with infectious disease. “A lot of the families went into the forest…spreading out so the contagion would be less concentrated in the villages,” Shepard said.

Both within and between communities, Indigenous groups also spread information: how to prevent contagion and what protocols should be followed should the disease spread, Gutierrez said.

The Indigenous media group Radio Wayuri spread information about containing and preventing the disease across a number of groups, Mora said.

To effectively spread materials, Indigenous groups and individuals sometimes worked with NGOs like the Colombian group Sinergias, which developed a range of messages about Covid-19 containment, monitoring, and treatment to be dispensed to remote communities. (Direct Relief provided Sinergias with a $50,000 grant to distribute educational materials along with PPE.)

“We think it’s the best way to provide our help,” said Dr. Pablo Montoya, co-founder and director of Sinergias. “It’s much more difficult to assume that we know what they need and what they want.”

And many communities have employed traditional medicine to treat the virus. Pàtkore Kayapó, president of the Kayapó people-led Protected Forest Associaton, described through a translator how, during the early days of the pandemic, his community was highly afraid of the disease’s spread, and were concerned about illegal miners coming close to their villages and of traveling to the surrounding cities.

Health care close to Kayapó’s village is hard to come by, he said, with scarcities of both medicine and health care providers. A health problem often means travel to another village or, for more complex treatments, a nearby city.

However, Kayapó said, traditional medicine was effective at treating the disease, as was what he describes as the natural protection of the forest. “Fortunately, we won this battle using our own traditional medicine,” he said through the translator.

Although the disease itself has presented an ongoing challenge, Kayapó said it has also had indirect effects on his community, including threatening income streams such as those from handicrafts and tourism, and encouraging illegal mining activities in the forest.

Direct Relief’s role

To support Indigenous communities in their fight against Covid-19, Direct Relief is providing a $500,000 grant to Nia Tero. The grant is designed to reach approximately 14,000 Indigenous people who are most threatened by Covid-19 and most in need of health services, in 11 countries.

The services will be provided by Health Expeditionaries, a group that provides medical missions to Indigenous communities, and to the Indigenous Find for Latin America and the Caribbean (FILAC).

With the grant provided, Health Expeditionaries will refurbish three of its mobile health clinics, train health workers, and procure a variety of health equipment. FILAC will distribute health kits to Indigenous families and health centers.

Nia Tero will also coordinate with dozens of tribal leaders to ensure that resources are delivered effectively and where they are most needed.

“There’s so much bad news, and so many elders that have passed, and at the same time it has been inspiring” to see Indigenous groups take action against this new threat, Mora said. “We all need to respect their self-determination and see their leadership for what it is.”

Cydney Justman contributed reporting to this story.

The post How Indigenous Groups in the Amazon Are Fighting Back Against Covid-19 appeared first on Direct Relief.

Much of the media coverage of the thousands of fires currently rampaging through Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, and Paraguay has focused, not surprisingly, on their implications for the planet as a whole – in particular, their impact on global climate change.

Far from just affecting those in the immediate area, the fires have also had a significant and widespread impact on public health. Media outlets have reported on an increase in hospital visits and respiratory ailments since the fires began. People in at least one affected area were instructed to stay inside and shut the windows against the polluted air.

Of course, those same health effects are felt by people living throughout the Amazon, said Rayanne Cristine Máximo França, an indigenous activist and member of the Baré people of the Rio Negro basin, in Portuguese. In addition to her activist work, França is a nurse who researches the impact of environmental injustice on indigenous peoples’ health.

But as the fires rage, they also raise the specter of long-term, permanent health consequences for the million indigenous people who make the Amazon rainforest their home.

Direct Relief has developed relationships in the region, including with the Ministries of Health of both Bolivia and Paraguay, to facilitate both immediate and long-term care for affected populations. The organization has provided medicines and supplies to a number of South American partners responding to the fires.

More than 9,000 fires have been detected in nearly 300 indigenous territories since January of this year, according to the NGO Amazon Watch, which advocates for forest conservation and indigenous rights. Approximately 4,700 sprang up in August alone.

The good news about respiratory ailments and other illnesses caused by the fire, said Helen Ribeiro, a professor at the University of São Paulo who studies environmental health, is that they’re largely temporary, although persistent smoke can cause chronic problems.

Dangerous changes to way of life, outbreaks of vector-borne disease, and increases in mental health issues, on the other hand, aren’t so easy to get rid of.

The Loss of Land

There are hundreds of indigenous groups currently living in the Amazon region. (Estimates range about 300 to 400.) These groups vary greatly in their practices and relationship with the surrounding ecosystem, according to Zaira Taveira, a social policy analyst for Brazil’s Ministry of Health who works with indigenous populations.

However, some facts transcend individual differences. “For indigenous people here in Brazil, health and land are very much related,” Dr. Taveira said. “The relationship they have with nature, water, animals, is a different relationship from ours.”

Traditionally, indigenous groups have practiced some combination of small-scale agriculture – often growing crops in small areas of land cleared by controlled fires, a practice that’s gone on for centuries – and hunting and fishing.

Already, França said, that system has been significantly compromised. “The entire biological life cycle has been completely affected: the food chains of the animals, the lands where the food was grown will take years to be fertile again, given proper care and management in the coming years,” she said.

Large-scale fires can also cause local rivers to be filled with toxins, poisoning fish and contaminating the water that people use for bathing and drinking, according to Christian Poirier, a program director for Amazon Watch. “You’re essentially poisoning yourself and your family, and you’re not able to bathe in this water,” he said.

And in addition, said Marcia Castro, a professor who studies global health and tropical disease at Harvard University, the deforestation caused by burning creates an ideal set of conditions for mosquito breeding.

“Deforestation is directly connected to malaria,” she said. The problem is so common that scientists have a term for
the cycle of deforestation and outbreak: frontier malaria.

The Rise of Chronic Disease

But a loss or compromise of the delicate life cycle França described could also compound a problem that’s already been cropping up in indigenous cultures: the influx of a Western diet, and with it, chronic diseases like diabetes and obesity.

Traditionally, Ribeiro said, indigenous populations have been comparatively healthy, although prone to picking up colds or even pneumonia when they deal with outside populations.

But “it’s not appropriate to think of them as isolated anymore,” said James Welch, an anthropology researcher at the National School of Public Health in Rio de Janiero. “Some of them are, but most are in some sort of transition toward a rural Brazilian style of life.”

In recent years, Welch explained, indigenous households have increasingly received income through social benefits, retirement pensions, and government salaries for teachers and health workers. While that may sound like a good thing, he said, it’s brought “a really dramatic change….people are buying food more than they are gardening or fishing or hunting.”

On a worldwide scale, chronic diseases tend to be problems of poverty. “In indigenous populations in Brazil, many times it’s people with money who are suffering from these problems,” Welch said. “They can buy sugar, rice, treats for the kids.”

If destructive fires make access to a traditional diet harder to maintain, indigenous groups will be more at risk of developing these chronic conditions.

A Mental Health Issue

Taveira explained that the indigenous people she’s talked to aren’t just thinking about the air quality or the potential for disease. “They have a different perspective,” she said.

Maura dos Anjos is a member of the Arapium people living in the Tapajós region of Pará, Brazil – a group confronting a new wildfire that began on September 14, França said.

“Knowing that people are at risk of dying because they live near the area that is being devastated by the fire, [knowing the] the animals that live there, the diversity of plants that we are losing, [and] the diversity of birds makes us angry, sad,” she told França, who recorded her comments in Portuguese.

The compromise or loss of these meaningful relationships isn’t just an issue of physical health, Taveira said. It potentially affects the mental health of people already in a vulnerable position.

“They would just suffer a lot, because of the animals, the relationship they have with the trees,” she said. “For them, it’s more than just getting food out of the forest.”

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