Over the past seven days, Direct Relief delivered 288 shipments containing 64 tons of requested medical aid to the U.S. and 13 countries worldwide, including Ukraine.

The shipments contained 6.5 million defined daily doses of medication, including Covid-19 therapies, diabetes medication, and cancer treatments.

The shipments to Ukraine contained IV fluids, PPE, insulin syringes, sutures, field medic packs with requested items for triage care during mass casualty events.

Ukraine Response to Date

Since February 24, Direct Relief has provided more than 48 tons of medical aid to the crisis, with more on the way.

All items were provided at the request of, and approved by, Ukraine’s Ministry of Health. Direct Relief’s medical donations have been mobilized from inventories within Ukraine, the organization’s distribution center in the Netherlands, and from emergency airlifts from the United States.

The aid requested by Ukraine and provided by Direct Relief includes a wide range of medicine, equipment and supplies, from field medic packs used by first responders providing triage care to oxygen concentrators to critical care medicines used in an ICU setting. Diabetes and hypertension medications, oncology drugs, diabetes supplies, and other urgently needed medications have also been delivered.

Direct Relief is in contact with Ministries of Health throughout the region to assess needs and is sharing information with the U.N., the European Commission, and the World Bank to coordinate relief efforts.

To develop a strategic response to the region’s growing need for insulin and other elements of diabetes care, Direct Relief is working with the International Diabetes Federation, Ukrainian Diabetes Federation, Ukrainian Ministry of Health, Life for a Child, and the World Health Organization’s non-communicable diseases working group.

Response timeline

Delivered to Ukraine

• March 4: 20 pallets of field medic packs were delivered to Ukraine’s Ministry of Health. The packs contain trauma and first aid supplies including bandages, tourniquets, gauze, essential drugs, and personal safety gear.
• March 9: 24 pallets of diabetes, cardiovascular, respiratory, and oncology medications were delivered to the Ministry of Health from within Ukraine.
• March 9: 13 pallets of emergency medical supplies including field medic packs, oxygen concentrators, essential emergency medicines, personal care items for displaced people, and inhalers were delivered to Charity Fund Modern Town & Village in Ukraine.

In Transit

• 89 pallets containing emergency hospital care items, wound care, antibiotics, chronic disease medications, PPE, and maternal and child health supplies are scheduled to arrive in Ukraine in the coming days from Direct Relief’s US distribution center.
• 64 pallets containing 200 10-liter oxygen concentrators to support Covid-19, IV antibiotics, diabetes medications, and medications for hypothyroidism are being staged for delivery to Ukraine at Direct Relief’s distribution center in the Netherlands.

Scheduled

• 12 pallets of insulin products are being fulfilled from the Netherlands distribution center.
• 30 pallets containing 500 10-liter oxygen concentrators to support Covid-19 and other emergency hospital care items.
• A FedEx humanitarian charter containing more than 50 tons of medical aid, including an emergency field hospital donated by the State of California and substantial quantities of emergency medicines and supplies, trauma and wound care medications, chronic disease medications, oxygen concentrators, emergency health kits, among other items.

In the News

• New York Times – How You Can Help Ukraine: “Direct Relief is one of the world’s largest distributors of donated medical supplies. Over the past six months, it has provided Ukraine with $26 million in medical aid. Last weekend, the Ukrainian Ministry of Health sent Direct Relief a list of items it needed, such as 500 emergency medical packs. The organization is working to acquire and deliver those supplies.”
• CNN – Interview with Direct Relief CEO Thomas Tighe:“We’ve never seen anything like this in 72 years,” says Direct Relief CEO Thomas Tighe, whose team is distributing essential medical supplies to the people of Ukraine.
• CNBC – Top-Rated Charities to Help with the Ukraine Relief Effort: “Charity Navigator compiled a list of highly-rated nonprofits already engaged in relief and recovery efforts in Ukraine and the surrounding areas.”
• Guardian – How Americans Can Help the People of Ukraine:”Direct Relief is working to fulfill a list of medical needs provided to the organization by Ukraine’s health ministry.”
• Wall Street Journal – Aid Groups Rush Supplies to Ukraine: “The ICRC and Direct Relief, a nonprofit humanitarian organization based in California, are dispatching insulin to Ukraine after the medication was identified as a critical need.”
• KEYT – Governor Newsom Helps Package Supplies for Ukraine through Direct Relief: “Literally everything is going down to Santa Barbara right away,” said Governor Newsom. “It’s going down to Direct Relief, who is working with Fedex, and they’ll be shipping out directly to Poland.”
• Medscape – Medical Aid Groups Brace for Protracted War in Ukraine: “At the request of Ukraine’s health ministry, the Santa Barbara, Calif.-based group sent 360 field medic packs containing items such as tourniquets and antibiotics via plane to Poland on Tuesday.”

WORLDWIDE

This week, outside the U.S., Direct Relief shipped more than 5.8 million defined daily doses of medication totaling 63,518 lbs.

Countries that received medical aid over the past week included:

UNITED STATES

Direct Relief delivered 317 shipments weighing 46,988 lbs and containing 358,444 doses of medications over the past week to organizations, including the following:

YEAR TO DATE

Since January 1, 2022, Direct Relief has delivered 3,976 shipments to 1,214 healthcare organizations in 51 U.S. states and territories and 60 countries.

These shipments contained 78.1 million defined daily doses of medication valued at $367 million (wholesale) and weighing 5.9 million lbs.