December 2022
Having trouble viewing this email? Click here to view in your browser. |
|
|
|
|
Note from Elizabeth (EJ) Ashbourne, PQMD Executive Director
This month, at the invitation of PQMD Advisory Council member, Dale Hill, I had the tremendous opportunity to participate in a contemporary issues forum and debate with Professor Steve Hansch, epidemiologist, professor at George Washington University and evaluator at the International Business and Technical Consultants, Inc. The event (a live webinar) was titled, "Big Pharma Global Drug Donations: Good or Bad?", and my role was to explain why donations are beneficial for recipient countries despite some of the challenges inherent in medical donations. My talking points included important data such as the fact that 274 million people in 2022 needed humanitarian assistance protection – the highest in decades for just 24 of the world’s most major humanitarian crises. I argued that donations are an iterative and collaborative process to fill gaps for urgent demand and provide a pathway to solve for positive health outcomes. Successful programs are increasingly done in concert with capacity building and health systems strengthening initiatives implemented by global and local NGOs, public sector institutions, and long built relationships with partners on the ground. I reiterated the point that donations are an effective stop gap for urgent needs but also facilitate a bridge to increased resilience and sustainability. I provided examples, including our members’ efforts in Ukraine, which included the donation of over 22 million doses of essential medicines and cash as of March 2022. Companies like Pfizer, Merck, Abbott, J&J, BD and many others donated both cash and products to help with immediate needs and to resupply the country’s health system. Additionally, I drew on the substantial and long-term investments and contributions of our members to COVID as well as their individual “signature programs,” such as for Trachoma, Onchocerciasis, Shisto, and Intestinal Worms. For more information on these kinds of programs, and the incredible work our members do to promote access to medicines, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, please visit the PQMD website and Community of Practice, as well as the Access to Medicines 2022 Index. Within the Index, you will see many PQMD members ranked in the top 10 and you can find information on our member product donations and all the other incredible work they do to support access to universal health and well-being.
As we close out 2022, we have done so much this year and I’m already looking to some of the highlights coming for next year. Please mark your calendars for our Global Health Policy Forum - Global Health in a Changing Era: The View from Europe in Paris, France April 24-27, 2023. More information and registration will be released soon! We are also planning a robust program of Pillar Talks and member Coffee Chats in 2023 including hot topics such as, Measuring for Success, health systems strengthening, guidelines, and disaster response, among many other important topics affecting medical donations and improving global health. We will also be releasing our new Guidelines for Rare Diseases and launching the much-anticipated Aligned Metrics Initiative. Keep an eye out for announcements and opportunities to get involved.
Finally, I want to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season and a happy new year! I’m looking forward to what 2023 will bring for PQMD. |
|
|
|
|
Happy Holidays from PQMD!
PQMD wishes all of our members, colleagues and partners a wonderful holiday season and happy new year! We look forward to seeing what the new year brings! |
|
|
|
|
PQMD Email Update
For several days beginning December 9, PQMD's email was out of service due to technical issues. We are now receiving emails via forward to temporary alternate accounts. If you attempted to contact us via email and are still awaiting a response, please email again or call the PQMD office at 410-848-7036. |
|
|
GARDaccess Initiative- Guidelines for Rare Diseases Module Now Availablee
The GARDaccess initiative's Guidelines for Rare Diseases online, interactive Module is now available! This resource provides essential guidelines for those working with patients who have rare diseases. It addresses potential challenges by identifying best practice guidance to ensure that every patient living with a rare disorder has equitable access to quality healthcare.
In partnership with PQMD, expert advisors and stakeholders, the Global Alliance for Rare Diseases (GARDaccess) team designed seven guidelines which outline general principles to help create partnership and alliances for persons living with rare diseases and their families. GARDaccess will be releasing its final report soon which will include all of the project's deliverables, including the guidelines and the framework. You can learn more on the GARDaccess website, and if you have any questions about this initiative, please contact Harpreet Ram. |
|
|
Stay Informed!
Be sure to follow us on LinkedIn or one of our other social channels to get the latest, most up-to-date information on our Pillar Talks, courses, events, and resources. |
|
|
|
|
Enjoying the newsletter?
You can access our archive of previous issues on PQMD's Community of Practice or website! Please be sure to forward this newsletter to colleagues who may be interested in the content. If you have been forwarded this newsletter and would like to subscribe, you can do so here. If you have any questions about the newsletter, please contact Beth Haynes. |
|
|
PQMD K&I Committee Calling for Technologies
and Systems that Boost Donations Impact
Do you have a product management system that elevates efficacy and/or leverages the impact of product donations? Have you strategically invested in a solution or technology network that enables better product placement and utilization? PQMD’s Knowledge and Innovation (K&I) Committee is calling for organizations and companies that have successful experiences with technology and systems that boost donations impact. If you would like to join us as a presenter in our February Technology for Impact Showcase. Fill out this quick form to tell us a bit about your solution, and we will contact you in January 2023. |
|
|
|
|
Direct Relief Announces $7.9 Million Humanitarian Aid Package for Ukraine
On December 13th, Direct Relief announced its broadest financial package of medical aid for Ukrainians to date through $7.9 million in financial support to organizations providing critical health and rehabilitation services to Ukrainians and Ukrainian refugees facing debilitating injuries and other severe trauma caused or compounded by the ongoing war.
The financial support announced this week is the most recent infusion of support from Direct Relief, which has provided more than 1,000 tons and $640 million of medical material aid requested by the Ukrainian Ministry of Health and other healthcare providers, including extensive supplies for treating traumatic injuries and a broad range of medications ranging from cancer therapies, insulin, and antidotes for chemical attacks to those needed for chronic health conditions.
The latest round of financial commitments brings Direct Relief’s total cash aid for Ukraine and Ukrainians to $29.4 million
To read the full article, visit Direct Relief's website here. |
|
|
|
Compassion Beyond Borders: Airlink and United Get IsraAID to Florida to Lend a Helping Hand
As of December 2022, Airlink’s Hurricane Ian response has provided flights for 205 skilled responders and humanitarian aid workers on behalf of sixteen NGOs. Twenty of these flights have been for the IsraAID team to enable their long-term recovery efforts in Florida. They are particularly prioritizing supporting people who cannot easily undertake physically intensive work on their own, individuals who are uninsured, and those who lack the financial means to clear debris themselves.
View Airlink's video here. |
|
|
|
|
This Award-Winning Technology is Improving Disaster Relief Efforts Across the Globe
For 15 years, Johnson & Johnson and International Health Partners (IHP) have worked together to facilitate the donation of essential products and medicines into some of the world’s most vulnerable communities, especially during times of crisis. Since the start of the partnership in 2006, over 14 million treatments have been donated by Johnson & Johnson via IHP, impacting more than 12 million people in 70 countries across the globe. The two organizations have partnered to support communities during floods in Pakistan, conflicts in Lebanon and Tunisia, famine in Somalia and Kenya, Hurricane Matthew in Haiti, and the Beirut port explosion in 2020.
Building on this longstanding partnership, Johnson & Johnson recently collaborated with IHP to develop POWER (Product Offerings With Excellent Results), a new end-to-end unified global system for product donation and source of truth to track the impact of these donations.
Funded by the Johnson & Johnson Foundation, POWER enhances BOAZ, the successful product donations platform that IHP had already developed, to create an even more streamlined product donations process that can be used by all of Johnson & Johnson’s and IHP’s product donations partners. As the foundation system underpinning POWER, BOAZ recently received a Charity Times Award for Best Use of Technology in recognition of the system’s remarkable potential to transform disaster relief response and the wider product donation field.
Read the full article on J&J's website here. |
|
|
Does your organization have news to share?
Contact Beth Haynes for placement in future newsletters.
Next Month's Theme: Year in Review and Looking Ahead
|
|
|
|
|
This message was sent to you by the Partnership for Quality Medical Donations.
If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe at any time. |
|
|
|
.png)
