State of Georgia Proclaims March 16 MedShare International Day Atlanta, GA (March 16, 2023) – In honor of MedShare International celebrating its 25th year of providing healing and hope to impoverished communities worldwide, Georgia Speaker of the House Jon Burns and State Representative Becky Evans presented a proclamation officially declaring March 16 as MedShare International […]
Read moreWe want the world to know how MedShare is making a difference by procuring equipment and supplies, matching needs, and improving healthcare and the environment.
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MedShare is excited to announce that Karen Flayhart has joined the organization as our new Northeast Regional Director. Karen will be based in the New York area and will provide overall leadership for the Northeast Region — working directly with MedShare’s Northeast Regional Council and development team to develop and maximize fund development strategies. Karen […]
Read moreThe massive earthquakes in Turkey and Syria have created a devastating situation for people of the region, leaving tens of thousands of men, women and children injured and/or displaced. This natural disaster is multiplying the stress on already overburdened health care systems, particularly in Syria — a country dealing with a cholera outbreak and the […]
Read moreWorking in sync with a wide array of partner relief organizations that maintain a community-based presence on the ground in Ukraine and surrounding countries, MedShare is bolstering the herculean efforts of Convoy of Hope, Feed the Hungry, Salesian Missions, Razom for Ukraine, ZDOROVI, and NOVA Ukraine, among others, in the delivery of nearly $12 million […]
Read moreSince the World Health Organization declared coronavirus a global health emergency, MedShare has donated more than $1.3 million worth of aid, including more than 2.8 million masks and nearly 200,000 isolation gowns to hospitals and clinics to help medical personnel working on the frontlines of the coronavirus outbreak. The objective of MedShare’s Disaster Relief program […]
Read moreReview Charles Redding’s Annual Letter below and check out his latest Global Health Thought Leadership column here.
Dear Friends,
As the world continued to battle the COVID19 pandemic, great hope arrived in 2021 with the introduction of vaccines and enhanced testing. Unfortunately, these lifelines continued to be out of reach for many of the recipients we serve. The common theme that continued to emerge was the lack of health equity within marginalized communities.
Health inequity refers to avoidable differences in health between different groups of people. These widespread differences are the result of unfair systems that negatively affect people’s living conditions, access to healthcare, and overall health status. Health inequity affects people from disadvantaged or historically oppressed groups most severely, but has a negative impact on everyone. The pandemic exacerbated these issues and increased the need for MedShare’s programs and services.
Although the pandemic continued to impact the number of volunteers that supported our efforts and our ability to travel internationally to conduct critical equipment installations and training, MedShare was still able to address health inequities at home and abroad. This was evident via our partnership with Philips to improve Maternal and Child Health outcomes in disadvantaged communities in the San Francisco Bay Area by donating ultrasound machines to local safety-net clinics. Our ongoing deliveries of medical supplies and equipment were critical to many developing countries that were just now feeling the brunt of the pandemic and did not have vaccines and PPE readily available within their communities.
Through our response to COVID-19 as well as our ongoing efforts to address health inequities worldwide, and with the help of our supportive community, in FY21 we were able to improve the lives of 4.7 million people in 41 countries, including the U.S., and provide $18 million in aid. A key component of our continuing COVID-19 response included supporting the international communities and executing an impact partnership with The Walt Disney Company to distribute 1 million children’s face masks to over 150 communities across the U.S., including schools, safety-net clinics and grass-root efforts in low-income communities.
Many of our efforts to address healthcare disparities involved our support of safety-net clinics in the U.S. that were dealing with the fallout of health inequities that are prevalent in underserved communities. MedShare provided over $330,000 in aid to support their efforts. Additionally, over $380,000 in aid was provided to medical mission teams that filled the gap in health systems in underserved communities outside of the U.S.
Our disaster relief efforts reached more than 2.5 million people in FY21. This was primarily due to our response to the explosion in Beirut that claimed the lives of over 200 people and resulted in over 7,000 injuries, as well as continuing efforts to provide PPE as part of our infectious disease control and prevention program, delivering over 37 million units of PPE. Working together with Kaiser Permanente, UPS, The UPS Foundation, and PATH, we were able to donate two oxygen generators to India during a time when oxygen was in extremely short supply and countless lives were being lost.
We are truly thankful for the tremendous support of the many donors, partners, supporters, volunteers, and staff who continue to help us advance our mission and impact so many lives during these unprecedented times.
Our incredible staff continues to work tirelessly to expand our reach and increase our impact. Here are a few key milestones in our journey to help increase access to healthcare for marginalized communities around the world:
We continue to focus on ensuring efficiencies within operations that will ultimately increase the number of shipments and people we serve.
It is truly an honor to serve and I look forward to working to increase our impact on a global scale in the year ahead. Thank you wholeheartedly for all that you and our other countless supporters do to support MedShare’s mission.
Yours in Service,
Charles Redding
CEO & President