IRD Awarded Additional Grant for Medical Distribution Program in Ukraine

Washington, DC — August 11, 2005 — IRD recently received additional funding from the Department of State to supplement its current Emergency Medical Commodity Distribution (EMCD) Program in Ukraine. The supplementary funding will expand the current delivery of essential medical and non-medical commodities in the region of Crimea, and will now encompass humanitarian activities in Eastern Ukraine, particularly in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

The project includes the distribution of essential medical and non-medical supplies to over 100,000 Formally Displaced Persons (FDPs) and vulnerable groups in Crimea. This program targets 230,000 vulnerable persons in the Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts, including 138,000 impoverished coal miners and their families.

“This grant will enhance IRD’s ability to meet the pressing humanitarian needs of the country’s most vulnerable populations while also expanding our programs into Eastern Ukraine,” said IRD President Dr. Arthur B. Keys, Jr.

In addition to the distribution of medical supplies, this funding will provide potable water to 1,950 residents in the Belogorsk region of Crimea. IRD will also implement small rehabilitation projects in the Djankoy orphanage and in the Bahchisarai Maternity Hospital in Crimea. Overall, IRD will deliver $5 million worth of in-kind commodities to Crimea and Eastern Ukraine under this supplemental funding through July 31, 2006.

To date, IRD has delivered over $10.9 million in medical supplies and non-medical commodities to beneficiaries in Ukraine through the EMCD program. While implementing this program, IRD has distributed medical supplies, clothing, hygiene kits, school kits and food items to more than 400,000 beneficiaries, including more than 100,000 FDPs in the region of Crimea.

Since 1999, IRD has delivered $124.3 million worth of medicines, medical supplies and non-medical commodities to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine through the EMCD program. This program, funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Coordinator of U.S. Assistance to Europe/Eurasia, has benefited more than 2,164,795 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), refugees and other vulnerable groups, while also training more than 4,500 medical professionals.

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