Aviation Without Borders (AWB) in association with International Health Partners airfreighted a large load of Essential Health Packs (EHPs) from London to Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa of Africa just before Christmas and we received news of their distribution. The shipment was funded by aid from our donors and by a generous grant from the ISTAT Foundation based in Chicago.

The load of 4 pallets weighing 670 kgs contained 32 EHPs totaling 29,000 treatments at a value of £59,000. International Health Partners (IHP) usually has the packs in store in London to airfreight but, for projects like this in the Horn of Africa, they often lack funds for airfreighting as funding is attracted to more prominent crises. This is where AWB can play its part for we can do a lot with a little and can help to fill gaps where projects are underfunded.

The Horn of Africa is experiencing the worst drought in recent history and is currently facing an unprecedented crisis that has mostly been neglected. The crisis is exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine from where most of their wheat is imported, 36 million people are affected, including 18 million people who are currently under threat of starvation, but the region receives less attention than its magnitude warrants. Malnutrition seriously damages people’s health and the situation is not helped by the lack of medicines resulting in 80 – 90% of hospitals and clinics not functioning properly.

The Essential Health Packs (EHPs) that have been airfreighted to Ethiopia contain a broad range of primary health care medicines and are desperately needed to treat those affected by starvation. Malnutrition also makes people vulnerable to infectious diseases and Tuberculosis is widespread in Ethiopia. Project Hope is IHP’s partner in Ethiopia and they do an amazing job of administering the packs and helping dispense treatment.

International Health Partners is the biggest distributor of donated medical supplies in Europe and the ISTAT is a society that represents about 3,000 companies worldwide that buy and sell large civil aircraft. The ISTAT Foundation is a wonderful charitable organization that helps support aviation-orientated charities like AWB which are involved in aviation projects. We are proud to be associated with both IHP and the ISTAT Foundation in this special project.