It’s been six months since Super Typhoon Haiyan (locally known as Yolanda) battered the Philippines, killing more than 6,200 people, injuring over 28,000, and leaving millions more displaced. Of the 16 million people affected by the storm, at least 10 million were women and children, including 250,000 pregnant women. An estimated 82 percent of the health facilities in the affected areas were damaged in the storm, leaving many without access to primary health services.

Over the past six months, Direct Relief has been working to assist people in the Philippines affected by the typhoon, supporting health care providers on the ground with life-saving medicines and supplies, and working with partners to restore medical care for survivors of the most powerful typhoon ever to make landfall.

With generous support from people like you, Direct Relief has provided deliveries of medicines and medical supplies to more than 100 hospitals, clinics and medical teams in the region: 250 tons of donated medical relief goods (valued at over $14 million, wholesale) to treat over 500,000 people affected by the storm.

100 percent of contributions received for Typhoon Haiyan go directly to helping people in the Philippines affected by the disaster. Support the emergency response efforts by donating here.

Direct Relief’s immediate and long-term response activities are focused on the following objectives:

• Providing Medical Resources to Underserved Areas: Direct Relief provided items such as wound dressings for trauma-related care, antibiotics for skin and respiratory infections, and nutritional items for pregnant mothers and displaced children, among many other medical relief goods. Deliveries will continue to be directly distributed to charitable hospitals and health centers hit by the typhoon.

• Rebuilding, Repairing, and Re-equipping Health Centers: By partnering with the Provincial Health Office and the Philippines Department of Health, and local organizations such as the International Pharmaceuticals Incorporated Foundation (IPIF), global non-governmental organizations like the Asia America Initiative and Access Aid International, Direct Relief is rebuilding and re-equipping health clinics who provide care to thousands of patients and were destroyed in the storm.

• Creating Resiliency in High-Risk Areas: In addition to providing birthing centers in the affected areas with 20 Midwife Kits filled with essential supplies to deliver 1,000 babies safely, Direct Relief is expanding its Hurricane Preparedness Program to the Philippines in 2014, and will send disaster response modules with enough supplies to treat 15,000 people for a variety of conditions in the event of an emergency.

To learn more about Direct Relief’s comprehensive response activity, view the detailed six month report here.