AmeriCares Airlift Arrives in Darfur

Stamford, CT, March 30 2005 – An AmeriCares airlift arrived in North and South Darfur today, carrying more than 35 tons of essential medicines and relief supplies, as part of AmeriCares ongoing effort to aid the beleaguered Sudanese population. Among the medical relief included in the airlift are medications used in treating meningitis to help address the current outbreak of this fatal disease in North Darfur.

AmeriCares will work with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to distribute these shipments, providing hundreds of thousands of life-saving treatments to health facilities and clinics throughout the Darfur region.

“The humanitarian crisis in Sudan grows more desperate by the day,” said AmeriCares President and CEO Curt Welling. “More than one million Sudanese in the Darfur region—mostly women and children—still lack access to primary health care facilities, including the basic medicines necessary to treat common infectious diseases. AmeriCares will continue to be a leading provider of medicines to combat malaria, cholera, respiratory infections, diarrhea and other illnesses to the people most at risk in this crisis.”

In addition to this latest airlift, AmeriCares most recent shipment to help equip a hospital facility in Bahai, Chad, arrived last week. AmeriCares relief workers are in Chad collaborating with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and the Polish Medical Mission (PMM) team to install the hospital equipment and furniture.

This hospital will provide services for the Sudanese refugee population of more than 19,000, at the Kashuni Camp, as well as the Chadian host population. AmeriCares has donated medical supplies and equipment, including 30 hospital beds, exam tables, operating room tables and lights, vital signs monitors, and a portable defibrillator.

AmeriCares first airlift into Sudan arrived in October 2004, delivering 36 tons of essential medicines to help combat preventable diseases. To date, three previous airlifts totaling 60 tons of relief supplies have been sent to Chad, where nearly 200,000 displaced Sudanese are living in refugee camps on the border of Sudan. Ongoing relief efforts there are focusing on treating malnourished children. AmeriCares has also provided antibiotics and malaria medications for other therapeutic feeding centers along the entire Chad/Sudan border, and provided water purification treatments for 10 million liters of water.

To learn more about AmeriCares’ relief efforts in Sudan, or to make a contribution to support these efforts, log onto www.americares.org or call 1-800-486-HELP (4357).