AmeriCares has a series of emergency shipments headed to Fiji to assist the recovery from Cyclone Winston.
The first of three aid shipments left AmeriCares’ Stamford headquarters March 7 loaded with antibiotics, respiratory medicines, cardiovascular medicine and pediatric medications.
Two more shipments are planned. AmeriCares has 46,000 pounds of medicine and relief supplies valued at $1.5 million on the way to cyclone survivors.
More than a dozen companies donated products for the effort, including GSK, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc., Pfizer and Teligent Inc.
A team of AmeriCares workers is already on site, having arrived soon after the category 5 storm made landfall on Feb. 20, leaving behind 350,000 survivors in need.
“We are responding to a request from the Ministry of Health to meet the most urgent health needs,” said AmeriCares Director of Emergency Response Kate Dischino, who is leading the AmeriCares team in Fiji. “Many health facilities lost medicine and supplies in the floodwaters, and are now experiencing a surge in demand for care. The medicine and supplies from AmeriCares will help sustain health services in the hardest hit communities.”
AmeriCares deployed additional relief workers this weekend to assist the Ministry of Health with the distribution of medicine and supplies. Thirty percent of the country”™s health facilities were damaged by the storm ”“ the strongest recorded in the southern hemisphere and the strongest ever to hit Fiji.Â
To make a donation to AmeriCares International Disaster Relief Fund, go to www.americares.org/cyclone
