Atlanta, Georgia (February 10, 2020). – MedShare, an Atlanta-based humanitarian aid organization dedicated to global health, is partnering with The Coca-Cola Foundation and The UPS Foundation to send 1.8 million masks to China to support the effort to effectively treat patients and contain the coronavirus.
As the coronavirus outbreak intensifies, there is an urgent need for personal protective equipment, including masks and isolation gowns, for medical personnel to prevent further spread of the virus. In addition to the 1.8 million masks, MedShare will also be supplying 80,000 isolation gowns, for a total value of $780,000. The Coca-Cola Foundation is supporting this humanitarian relief effort with a $500,000 grant. UPS and The UPS Foundation will provide in-kind air and ground transportation of the supplies to China.
“We are all concerned about everyone impacted by the coronavirus outbreak in China,” said Helen Smith Price, President, The Coca-Cola Foundation. “We are using our resources to provide protective supplies for hospitals in China. As a longtime partner of MedShare, we are proud to support their critical relief efforts in impacted communities.”
The shipment of relief supplies will arrive in Shanghai on Friday, February 14 and will be delivered to both Shanghai and Hubei Province. MedShare is working with Shanghai Soong Ching Ling Foundation and Shanghai Charity Foundation to distribute the supplies in Shanghai. The largest portion of the supplies will be provided to the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center and Children’s Hospital of Fudan University, hospitals designated for coronavirus treatment in Shanghai. The supplies for Hubei Province will be distributed through our partners at Project HOPE.
“In collaboration with our relief partners earlier this month, UPS’s global freight forwarding network delivered more than 2 million masks to relief workers in China,” said Eduardo Martinez, president of The UPS Foundation and UPS chief diversity and inclusion officer. “This new effort with our partners at MedShare and other organizations providing support will bring that total to 4 million masks. For the individuals receiving this aid, this could mean everything.”
As part of its disaster preparedness planning, MedShare works closely with its partners throughout the year to collect surplus supplies when they have them available in order to be equipped to provide aid in times of need. MedShare is well positioned to respond to the coronavirus global health emergency as a result of the generous support of our partners at Henry Schein and ASP Global, who prepositioned product with us specifically for disaster relief efforts.
“This effort wouldn’t be possible without the strong partnerships we’ve built both in the U.S. and around the world. Through these partnerships, MedShare is able to provide relief and have a meaningful impact by helping medical personnel who are fighting on the frontlines to contain the coronavirus,” added Charles Redding, MedShare CEO and President.
This latest relief effort follows the initial shipment of 800,000 masks that MedShare sent to Hubei Province, China on February 1, 2020, bringing the total number of masks supplied by MedShare in response to the coronavirus outbreak to 2.6 million with a total value of more than $1.2 million.
We will continue to work with our partners on the ground in China to assess the need and support the effort to fight the coronavirus outbreak.
Visit our website at www.medshare.org to contribute to our coronavirus response efforts and learn more about our work to support this global health emergency.
About MedShare
MedShare is a 501c(3) humanitarian aid organization dedicated to improving the quality of life of people, communities, and our planet by sourcing and directly delivering surplus medical supplies and equipment to communities in need around the world. For more information, please visit the organization’s website at www.medshare.org.
Nancy Hunter, Director of Marketing & Communications
(404) 537-5087
media@medshare.org
Twitter: @MedShare
Facebook @MedShareMission
Instagram: @MedShareOfficial
