Direct Relief International is playing a major role in a historic campaign to vaccinate 2.5 million Haitian children under 10 years old. Working with global medical technology company BD, Direct Relief is supplying BD syringes and needles to make these immunizations possible. The vaccination will be provided without cost, and the initial focus will be on measles, rubella, and polio.
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Today the NY Times ran an article about Haiti’s cholera epidemic, a disease that’s spread through fecal contamination of water. Before Haiti’s devastating earthquake on January 12, 2010, only 12% of the country had access to piped, treated water and after that number declined rapidly. That set up Haiti as a prime candidate for a cholera outbreak. From the article: “…cholera has killed more than
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Exciting day for us as we launch the 1st-ever collaborative & interactive Global Fistula Map! The largest and most comprehensive map of available services for women living with obstetric fistula was launched today by Direct Relief International, the Fistula Foundation, and UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. The release of the Global Fistula Map, a major step forward in understanding
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Direct Relief International has been ranked by Forbes magazine as one of the twenty most efficient large charities in the United States in the magazine’s 13th annual ranking of the 200 largest American charities based on private support. Forbes‘s 13th annual rating of the 200 top American charities calculates three major efficiency ratios for each nonprofit: charitable commitment, fundraising efficiency,
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On the one-year anniversary of the cholera outbreak in Haiti, U.N. deputy special envoy Dr. Paul Farmer has declared the country’s cholera outbreak is now the worst in the world and is on the verge of becoming the leading cause of death by infectious disease in Haiti. While cholera cholera cases have been gradually declining over the past few months,
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By Lindsey Pollaczek, Program Officer Sierra Leone has one of the highest reported maternal death rates in the world. In 2005, the maternal mortality ratio was 2,100 deaths per 100,000 live births and a woman’s lifetime risk of dying due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth was 1 in 8. Long distances to health facilities, the cost of health services,
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