Over the past week, Direct Relief has delivered 624 shipments of requested medical aid to 45 U.S. states and territories and 16 countries worldwide. The shipments contained 3 million defined daily doses of medication.
Medications and supplies shipped this week included rare disease therapies, cancer therapies, insulin, and more.
MPOX Response Continues in Congo
As mpox cases continue to climb in Africa, educational efforts to curb the disease are taking place in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Direct Relief recently awarded a grant of $50,000 to the nonprofit Jericho Road for mpox response, and prevention and treatment programs that are taking place in the three IDP (internally displaced people) camps near their facility in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or DRC.
The Jericho Road Wellness Center is based in Goma, DRC, near three large IDP camps in North Kivu, and the spread of mpox in these camps was noted as an area of concern by Africa CDC. The province of North Kivu is home to over 2.5 million internally displaced people, and conflict and insecurity throughout the region have caused the additional displacement of over 500,000 people in North Kivu over the last year, which has played a factor in the recent mpox outbreak.
Jericho Road held mpox awareness and preventative health training sessions for community facilitators from camps where thousands of displaced people are living. The trainings covered hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene, transmission of contagious diseases, and more. The facilitators will be training those in their communities about infection control and protection and prevention.
Direct Relief has worked with Jericho Road during previous outbreaks, including during the 2019 Ebola outbreak in eastern DRC. Direct Relief and Jericho Road worked to deliver PPE to the North Kivu provincial Department of Health, and the organizations are exploring the same approach as North Kivu is experiencing some of the highest rates of mpox in Africa.
Cancer Therapies Arrive in Gaza
Cancer therapies and essential medicines arrived recently at the Cancer Center at European Gaza Hospital to support treatment of people living with cancer.
The cancer center is a vital lifeline to care for those needing care, and seven pallets of requested medications were purchased locally by Anera in the West Bank, with $250,000 in financial support from Direct Relief. The local purchase of the medications allowed for the treatments to be swiftly delivered to the hospital.
Operational Snapshot
UNITED STATES
Direct Relief delivered 586 shipments containing 2 million doses of medication during the past month to organizations, including the following:
- Welvista, South Carolina
- NC MedAssist, North Carolina
- St. Vincent de Paul Pharmacy, Texas
- Clinica Esperanza/Hope Clinic, Rhode Island
- CommunityHealth, Illinois
- PanCare of Florida, Inc., Florida
- St. Vincent de Paul Charitable Pharmacy, Ohio
- Steve Rummler HOPE Network, Minnesota
- A Promise To HELP, Alabama
- University Health – Truman Medical Center, Missouri
Around the World
Globally, Direct Relief shipped over 1 million defined daily doses of medication totaling 13,673 lbs., to countries including the following:
- India
- Ukraine
- Ethiopia
- Pakistan
- Ecuador
- Zambia
- Honduras
- Afghanistan
YEAR TO DATE
Since January 1, 2024, Direct Relief has delivered 24.2K shipments to 2,419 partner organizations in 54 U.S. states and territories and 89 countries. These shipments contained 396.6M defined daily doses of medication valued at $1.6B (wholesale) and totaled 5.0M lbs.
in the news
Reflecting on 24 Years of Crisis Care at Direct Relief – Santa Barbara Independent
Celebrating the Relief Chief – The Montecito Journal
Direct Relief Secures Spot as the Fifth Largest U.S. Charity, Forbes Reports – Edhat
