Global Medical Aid

Global Medical Aid is a Danish humanitarian-aid non-governmental organization, best known for its medicinal and healthcare projects in developing nations. Its headquarters are in Birkerød, Denmark.^[1] The organization is known in most of the world by its English name or simply as GMA. DANIDA sponsors the freight costs of medicine and equipment sent to GMAs partner nations. All donations made by GMA are in accordance with the guidelines set up by the World Health Organization.^[2] The founder of GMA, Hans-Frederik Dydensborg was nominated to hero of the year in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.^[3]

The organization actively provides health care and medicine to populations in about 10 countries. Some of the key countries include Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Macedonia. GMA works in close collaboration with health ministries, hospitals, diplomats, embassies and pharmaceutical companies such as Actavis.^[2]

Characteristics

Global Medical Aid collects medicine and equipment from hospitals in Developed Nations such as Denmark and then sends them off to Third World.^[4] Equipment is often withdrawn from service due to modernization within developed nations health services. GMA encourages hospitals and pharmaceutical firms to donate their medicine instead of abolishing them. Henceforth, the equipment and medicine is still usable and very modern in the third world. In 2012, the value of the donations to the Third World stood at 76 million DKK.^[3] Some of the major medicinal donations include:

Some of the most recent donations include the transportation of 700 hospital-beds to Benin.^[5][6]

In 2010, GMA donated medicine to Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal. Global Medical Aid (GMA) donated medicines worth 25 million Nepalese Rupee to refugee camps. For treating anxiety depression, it donated 7,500 tablets of Citalopram and 10,000 tablets of Escitalopram.^[7]

However, the achilles'heel of GMA is that some medicine doesn't reach the designated destination before the expiry date. This often happens due to slow-working immigration officers and legislatiors. Thus, some medicine cannot be used and has to be destroyed.^[3]

References