Medical Teams International sends medical volunteer to Sudan
Source: Medical Teams International
Barbara Agnew
Website: http://www.medicalteams.org
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(PORTLAND, ORE.) On April 9, Medical Teams International will send its first medical volunteer to West Darfur in 19 months. Dr. Jon Bird, an emergency room physician from Farmington, Missouri, will help care for thousands of families forced to flee their homes from ongoing violence.
Dr. Bird will spend four weeks in the Sudanese region of Darfur, an area that the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis. He will train local health care workers with the Sudan Ministry of Health and treat displaced people living in makeshift camps—temporary shelters where outbreaks of malaria, acute respiratory diseases, dysentery and bacterial infections run rampant.
Media: Dr. Bird departs Monday, April 9, from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. Interviews are available from 11 a.m. to 12 noon at the Northwest Airlines ticket counter. Please call Barbara Agnew at 503-341-6620 to arrange an interview.
A combination of violence, and more recently government restrictions on access, by foreigners, have prevented Medical Teams International from sending volunteers to the area. A member of the Darfur Relief Collaboration, Medical Teams International has been providing health care assistance in Darfur since 2004. The Collaboration provides food support, medical care, shelter and sanitation/hygiene assistance to 60,000 displaced Sudanese people.
"The living conditions in Darfur are heartbreaking," says Bas Vanderzalm, president of Medical Teams International. "We're committed to continuing our work in this region and are thankful that once again we can send our medical volunteers to help our local partners care for people who are struggling to survive day to day."
Two decades of conflict, famine and widespread insecurity in Sudan have triggered the largest internally displaced person (IDP) population in the world. More than 4 million Sudanese, including nearly two million in Darfur, struggle to find clean water, adequate food and critically needed medical help.
To learn more about Medical Teams International or its work in Sudan, go to www.medicalteams.org.
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