MediSend International Fulfills Shipment to Angola in Support of ExxonMobil’s Africa Health Initiative
Dallas non-profit partners with ExxonMobil to send shipments of medical supples and equipment to countries in despearte need.
Dallas, Texas (PRWEB) November 15, 2005
With support from the ExxonMobil Foundation's Africa Health Initiative, Dallas-based MediSend International, in collaboration with Save the Children, will be shipping two forty foot ocean containers loaded with medical supplies and bio-medical equipment to Angola. Mr. Neil Duffin, ExxonMobil Production Company's Vice President for Africa, announced the donation at a November 11 event in Houston celebrating the 30th anniversary of Angola's Independence. The containers, with medical supplies valued at over $1.2 million, will be shipped today from MediSend’s loading docks.
There are whole populations suffering from the disaster of poverty worldwide. Children and adults go without proper medical care because of a lack of medical supplies. MediSend International is a non-profit agency that addresses the needs of those areas that otherwise might be left with very limited medical resources or completely without any treatment. With the help of strategic partners such as manufacturers, distributors, and hospital systems that donate surplus usable medical supplies and equipment, desperately needed in developing countries, MediSend provides shipments of medical aid to pre-qualified public and charitable institutions that offer medical services abroad. Often, in these areas, doctors and medical practitioners are desperate for the likes of even the simplest items such as surgical gloves or clean syringes. After MediSend collects supplies and biomedical equipment, the items are sorted, inventoried, repaired and shipped.
Generous support from corporate sponsors such as ExxonMobil enable MediSend to send shipments around the world to help ease the suffering of those in desperate need of medical attention.
Medisend President/CEO Nick Hallack and his team have streamlined the process of gathering, packaging, shipping and monitoring the supplies and equipment. Hallack works closely with third party NGO’s such as World Health Organization, Save the Children, and International Red Cross on the receiving end to be certain that the shipments reach the intended destination.
“We have developed a highly efficient web-based Supply Chain Management system,” says Hallack, “but our biggest issue is that requests come in faster than the much needed supplies. We want manufacturers, distributors and hospital systems around the country to know that we exist as a humanitarian alternative repository for surplus equipment and supplies. And, of course, dollars are always needed to facilitate and fund shipping.”
Sadly, every year in the US over nine billion dollars worth of useable surplus medical equipment, supplies, and instruments end up as environmental waste and landfill. MediSend International, with headquarters in North Dallas, has been quietly assuming a global role in the recovery and distribution of surplus medical supplies and equipment. Jane Goodall sits on the Board of Medisend International and last year Mary Jo Myers, wife of General Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, visited Dallas on MediSend’s behalf and was honored with the 2004 MediSend Humanitarian Award.
Last week MediSend sent three forty foot containers of emergency medical relief to earthquake-ravaged Pakistan. Hallack says that MediSend is sending out more shipments in November than any month since their founding in 1990.
ExxonMobil established the Africa Health Initiative in 2000 and since that time has made grants in excess of $11.5 million, largely to support activities related to the prevention, control, and treatment of malaria in Africa. The equipment and medical supplies provided by Medisend will assist hospitals in the fight against malaria. ExxonMobil is one of the largest oil producing companies operating in Angola.
For interviews and/or more information call Lou Ann York at (214) 343-1599.
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