Direct Relief is delivering $190,000 (wholesale) in medical aid this week to American Refugee Committee (ARC) in Pakistan to support relief efforts. With extensive flooding affecting over one third of the country, ARC has been staging basic health units in flood areas, including Swat, Balochistan, and Nasserabad provinces. The 17-pallet, six-and-a-half-ton consignment includes a critically needed emergency module, worth $50,000 wholesale from Johnson & Johnson (J&J), which features products specially tailored to address medical issues during an emergency.

The module, which J&J donated to Direct Relief for exactly this purpose, has been staged at our Santa Barbara warehouse for immediate deployment when needed.  The module included most-needed items such as ointment, bandages, and sutures.  As news reports have indicated, the need is extreme in Pakistan, with millions of people displaced by flooding and affected by standing and contaminated water.

Along with the emergency module, ARC is receiving other needed products pulled from Direct Relief’s standing inventory, which it has specifically requested, including antifungal medicines, amoxicillin, and multivitamins. With cholera, malaria, and infections showing up in their patient populations, ARC has specifically requested these items to help treat these prevalent conditions.

In addition to delivering medical aid now totaling $525,000, Direct Relief has also facilitated in-country donations from Abbott Labs in Pakistan of needed product to ARC and Marie Stopes Society Pakistan to expedite relief efforts in the emergency response.