Return to listing
STAMFORD, CT, January 31, 2007 — AmeriCares, the international relief and humanitarian aid organization, launched an airlift of tons of medicines, vitamins and medical supplies from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport yesterday bound for conflict-affected regions in Darfur.
The plane landed this morning (Eastern Time) and its cargo has already been unloaded and is in the hands of the International Rescue Committee (the IRC).
This is the first of three scheduled airlifts to the crisis-torn region. The urgently-needed medications, totaling 28 tons, are being distributed to health facilities and clinics operated by the IRC and Save the Children that treat more than 400,000 Sudanese living in relief camps or villages and who are at high risk for disease and illness.
With the completion of these airlifts, AmeriCares will have delivered medicines and medical supplies valued at more than $2 million to Darfur since 2004. The medications that were airlifted include: artesunate and quinine sulphate (for malaria), amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, mebendazole, ampicillin, paracetamol.
What makes these airlifts unique is that AmeriCares is the only humanitarian aid agency that is flying relief directly into Darfur. This eliminates the need to purchase medicines and supplies on the ground that could prove to be counterfeit and ineffective against disease. It also ensures that the aid is delivered directly into the hands of the people using it, eliminating the need to truck aid from Khartoum which can result in delays in delivery and the opportunity for the relief convoys to become targets of attacks.
To learn more about AmeriCares’ relief efforts in Darfur, or to make a contribution to support these efforts, log onto www.americares.org or call 1-800-486-HELP (4357).