Project HOPE Delivers Nearly $11 Million of Medicines to Kyrgyz Republic

Humanitarian aid for medical facilities serving impoverished communities in capital Bishkek

Millwood, Virginia, September 30, 2011

Tens of thousands of people in the Kyrgyz Republic will receive much-needed free medicines delivered by the global NGO, Project HOPE, to treat cardiovascular disease, eye infections and to provide vaccinations to thousands of children in underprivileged communities.

The medicines and medical supplies donated by Project HOPE’s corporate partners such as Abbott, Allergan, Ethicon, GlaxoSmithKline, Macovan Pharmaceuticals, Merck & Co., Inc. and Sanofi, are valued at nearly $11 million USD and were delivered in a humanitarian airlift operation by the U.S. Department of State.  The medicines will be distributed on Monday to medical facilities in the capital, Bishkek, and outlying areas.

“There is an urgent need here for free medicines to combat serious chronic diseases such as heart disease. It’s important to also use this opportunity to encourage local communities to seek treatment before a preventable illness becomes a major health crisis, which can impact a family in many negative ways,” said Colin Credle, Regional Manager for Central Asia at Project HOPE, a global health education and humanitarian assistance organization.

About 100,000 children will receive vaccines for Tetanus and Diphtheria as a way to stem an outbreak of disease, or minimize the symptoms of someone who has been exposed to a disease or virus.

The Kyrgyz Minister of Health, Dr. Sabyrbek Djumabekov, will attend the handover ceremony on Monday, October 3, at the M. Mirrakhimov National Center of Cardiology and Therapy, along with members of the Kyrgyz Parliament, and officials from the U.S. Department of State, including Gerald Oberndorfer, the Director of Humanitarian Programs in Europe and Eurasia.

Project HOPE has been addressing the medical needs of communities across Central Asian republics since the fall of the Soviet Union. Last year, HOPE collaborated with a partnering NGO to deliver humanitarian aid to Osh, following political strife in the south.   In 2002, Project HOPE led a group of international NGOs to implement health education programs in Central Asia in a large-scale maternal, child and reproductive health initiative.

HOPE continued to focus on women and children’s health in 2007 with the introduction of health education programs which promoted breastfeeding, family planning/reproductive health.  Project HOPE has made tuberculosis prevention and treatment among at-risk populations in the Kyrgyz, Tajik, Uzbek, and Kazak republics a top priority by reaching out to communities most at-risk of TB and HIV, by providing medical treatment and health education.

Over the past five decades, Project HOPE has developed and instituted long-term solutions to health challenges in 123 countries; distributed nearly $2 billion in medicines, supplies and equipment; trained thousands of health care workers and mobilized communities for better health.

About Project HOPE
Founded in 1958, Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere) is dedicated to providing lasting solutions to health problems with the mission of helping people to help themselves. Identifiable to many by the SS HOPE, the world’s first peacetime hospital ship, Project HOPE now provides medical training and health education, and conducts humanitarian assistance programs in more than 35 countries.