As the full measure of Hurricane Matthew’s devastation in Haiti is realized, Direct Relief remains committed – both in Haiti and throughout the world – where poverty or emergencies prevent people from living a full and healthy life.

Some of those places include:

Clarksburg, West Virginia, where a woman who was recently diagnosed with diabetes came into a clinic in desperate need of syringes she could not afford. She had been able to get insulin from her doctor’s office, but not syringes, according to James Harris, executive director of Clarksburg-based Health Access, Inc. When she took her prescription for the syringes to the drugstore, she discovered that syringes cost $10 per box.

“She cried as she said that it might as well be $1,000 because she didn’t have the $10 to purchase the syringes,” Harris said.

The situation changed when she turned to the Health Access clinic that Direct Relief supports. “She left our clinic that day with a box of donated syringes, and since that time she has become a patient at our clinic and receives necessary insulin supplies on a monthly basis here due to the generosity of programs like those offered by Direct Relief,” Harris said.

Rural Tanzania, where a woman named Agnes recently underwent surgery to repair a fistula at Selian Lutheran Hospital, a facility that Direct Relief supports with medical and surgical supplies. Months later, Agnes gave birth to a healthy baby girl. She named her baby Anna after her nurse at Selian Lutheran. The two returned home to their family in good health.

This year, Direct Relief equipped health care facilities throughout Africa with the resources to provide 3,750 women the fistula repair surgery that Agnes received.

Syria and beyond its borders, where Direct Relief continues to provide medical assistance to doctors, medical missions, and local organizations that are caring for refugees. This past year, Direct Relief has provided more than $4 million in critically-needed medical items to support health services in the Syrian border nations of Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan.

Ecuador, where a 7.8 magnitude earthquake on April 16, 2016, caused untold devastation. In response, Direct Relief chartered a 767 cargo aircraft that delivered 47 tons of medicines and supplies worth $2.1 million – the largest single shipment of emergency medical assistance. Six months later, Direct Relief is still working to strengthen the resilience of the health system and help the country recover.

India and Nepal, where people living with lysosomal storage disorders, hemophilia, and other rare diseases often lack access to treatment due to the extremely high costs and a lack of availability of specialized medicines. Over the last year, Direct Relief provided life-saving enzyme replacement therapy to 89 patients who otherwise may not have survived.

80+ countries in which Direct Relief has responded to more requests for assistance than ever before in its nearly 70-year history.

Thanks to everyone who makes this work possible.