More than 1 million people in Haiti are still in need due to the hurricane, and disease remains rampant, with almost 4,000 cholera cases reported since Oct. 4.

Direct Relief was quick to respond to healthcare partners after the storm and will continue to do so through the recovery.

Financial Summary

Direct Relief received more than 3,000 Hurricane Matthew-designated financial contributions totaling $827,962; including pledges, the total increases to $1,071,266.

Direct Relief recognizes that the generous supporters who pledged and gave more than $1 million in response to Hurricane Matthew did so with the express intent that their contributions benefit people affected by the storm.

In accepting funds for Hurricane Matthew, Direct Relief understands that both those who contributed — and the people for whose benefit the contributions were made — deserve to know, in detail, how Direct Relief is using these funds.

*Direct Relief does not rely on government funding.

The Response

As the world’s attention shifts, Direct Relief remains committed to supporting the needs of local healthcare providers in Haiti and the U.S.

United States

Direct Relief shipped $1.3 million worth of supplies to impacted communities in the U.S. after Matthew. Five tons of medicines and medical supplies were sent in 29 different shipments.

Before the storm made landfall, Direct Relief had prepositioned emergency medical modules in the hurricane’s path. Two were opened after the storm, one at the Roanoke Chowan Community Health Center in North Carolina, and another at the Franklin C. Fetter Health Care Network in South Carolina.

Each U.S.–bound pack contains enough medicines and supplies to treat 100 patients for three to five days after a hurricane hits.

Haiti

Roadways and bridges were washed away by the storm, and some of the hardest-hit communities in the southwestern part of the country also proved the most difficult to access. In the following weeks, Direct Relief used any means possible to transport aid, including by helicopters and ships.

Since Oct. 4, Direct Relief delivered $10 million worth of medicines and medical supplies to Haiti – nearly 20 tons. That included more than half a million daily doses of medication.

Material Support

Below is a list of companies that contributed medical resources to the response.

Looking Forward

Cholera persists as a life-threatening force in the country, and Direct Relief will continue to supply partners with supplies to treat this preventable, but deadly, disease. Direct Relief is continuing to deliver shipments of oral rehydration salts, IV equipment and other needed supplies.

The next delivery is scheduled to arrive in the coming days with more than 500,000 water purification sachets. Each sachet can clean 10 liters of drinking water. In total, the shipment will result in nearly 1.5 million gallons of safe drinking water.

The shipment will also contain oral rehydration salts, which can be mixed with the purified water to restore the electrolytes of a dehydrated person.

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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

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A June 10 report issued by Nepal’s Ministry of Health and Population noted that 375 of the 446 public health facilities and 16 private facilities in Nepal’s hardest hit regions were destroyed, with the highest near-term priority being the resumption of health services, including the provision of logistics to provide drugs and supplies, to care for both injured persons and the general population.

“The Nepal earthquakes delivered a cruel blow, causing more people to need care and destroying the places where they can receive it,” said Thomas Tighe, President and CEO of Direct Relief. “Private resources are keenly needed as part of the collective effort, and we are deeply thankful to the companies that have again stepped up to help in such a substantial way.”

The 21 healthcare companies listed below contributed to today’s airlift, which contains 5,350,173 defined daily doses (DDDs) of medications, trauma and wound care supplies, and thousands of liters of oral rehydration solution (Pedialyte) – acutely needed in a country where cholera is endemic and posing a heightened risk.

The post Earthquake Recovery: 21 Healthcare Companies Making a Difference in Nepal 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.

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Volunteer Molly Green came with her daughter and said it was very special for them to celebrate International Women’s Day together as empowering women and girls is a passion they share.

“Direct Relief has always been near and dear to our hearts and we’re so impressed with the work that [Direct Relief] does and the impact it has on the world,” said Green.

Obstetric fistula is a hole in the birth canal caused by prolonged and obstructed labor that, if untreated, leaves women with constant and uncontrollable leakage of urine and/or feces. In addition to physical injuries, many women with fistula suffer humiliation, isolation, and stigma as a result of the smell and constant leakage.

The condition can often be repaired with surgery, but many women who are eligible for surgery are placed on a waiting list. Sometimes it can take weeks and possibly even months for the women who have been identified as candidates to receive the repair surgery.

That’s why Direct Relief developed the Dignity Kits – a type of care pack for women who are awaiting obstetric fistula surgery. The kits contain cleansing spray, soap, moisturizer, maternity pads, cleansing wipes, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a notepad.

These items were made available with generous donations from 3M, Covidien, Henry Schein, Neutrogena, Sappo Hill Soapworks, and individuals.

Each kit is valued at about $30 each. To support Direct Relief’s maternal and child health programs, you can make a donation here.

The post 1,000 Dignity Kits Readied for Women Awaiting Obstetric Fistula Repair appeared first on Direct Relief.

Working together, Direct Relief and ANERA have identified the most essential medicines and supplies, over 700 lbs. of sutures, syringes, hypertensives, surgical scrub, bandages, and other personal care products (valued at over $645,000) provided by Covidien. At least one full, 40-foot ocean container of hospital beds, sodium chloride, wound dressings, and other medical material will follow and should arrive Saturday.

Since the civil war in Syria began in March of last year, an estimated 250,000 refugees have fled to camps in neighboring Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon. In the past few months, threats of air and artillery attacks have accelerated the exodus. The ANERA office in Lebanon has registered 66,000 Syrian refugees already. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),  75 percent of the new arrivals are women and children and many of these refugees are entirely dependent on humanitarian aid, some coming with only the clothes on their backs and few financial resources.

This aid will help strengthen medical services for Syrian refugees in Lebanon and demonstrates Direct Relief’s mission to improve the health and lives of those affected by poverty, disaster, and civil unrest. Direct Relief sincerely thanks Covidien for their partnership in supporting these relief efforts.

The post Medical Supplies Support Growing Syrian Refugee Crisis appeared first on Direct Relief.

Today is the final day of the International Society of Obstetric Fistula Surgeons (ISOFS) meeting in Dakar, Senegal. It has been an incredibly busy few days as fistula surgeons and health professionals have come together to share diverse experiences, research findings, and recommendations for improving quality of treatment, management, and prevention of obstetric fistula. Representatives from more than 40 countries are participating in the conference, all sharing the common goal of working to improve fistula care and a vision for eradication of this preventable condition due to failures in maternal health care.

Representing Direct Relief, I have had the unique opportunity to engage with many of the preeminent fistula surgeons in the world. Many of the pioneers in the field are here, surgeons who have dedicated their careers to treating women with fistula, training other surgeons, and spearheading research to improve the outcomes for fistula care. Many more youthful faces from the next generation are here—motivated, committed, primarily African surgeons from all parts of the continent have come to learn from each other and improve their expertise in a region where the burden of obstetric fistula is highest.

The surgeons provide an essential service for helping restore the dignity of women living with obstetric fistula. Also present are advocates, community organizers, and public health professionals who are addressing the important areas of prevention of fistula through improved obstetric care and also social reintegration of women back into their communities after their physical wound has been healed. This community recognizes that it is simply not enough to surgically repair the fistula and send a woman on her way after she has lived often for many years with a highly stigmatizing and socially humiliating condition. The conference theme acknowledges the increased effort which must be made not only to treat the physical condition but to ensure that women can return to normal, healthy lives in their community.

A great deal of good work is being done by many organizations across Africa and Asia to address obstetric fistula. A shared understanding of exactly where these services are located and the current capacity for treatment remains elusive. Direct Relief is working together with ISOFS and the Fistula Foundation to help illuminate this information in a way that is accessible to all stakeholders.  Using our experience in GIS (geographic information systems) technology, Direct Relief hopes to help create powerful tool for everyone in the fistula care community—to understand the current landscape for treatment, help identify unmet need, and provide a tool to guide decisions on future resource and service allocation.

Direct Relief is currently providing surgical supplies to support fistula-repair programs in seven hospitals across Africa, many of which are represented here.  It is clear through the level of engagement at this conference – and by the preliminary results of the fistula treatment mapping – that there are many more facilities where surgical supplies are needed. Working together with healthcare companies like Johnson & Johnson, Ethicon, Covidien, and CR Bard, Direct Relief hopes to support more surgeons so they have the supplies they need to do this valuable work.

This gathering has reassured my confidence in Direct Relief’s decision in making fistula care and prevention a central part of its maternal health strategy over the next five years. There is a lot of good momentum and energy here at this conference. We all agree that a lot remains to be done.

Now off to the closing ceremony and to the work ahead!

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