Strengthening health systems in Zimbabwe

PICTURED: First Lady of Zimbabwe, Her Excellency, Amai Auxillia Mnangagwa, selecting equipment from the MediShare facility.

RAWCS project MediShare is partnering with NGO Angel of Hope Foundation to support the most vulnerable in society through providing access to healthcare, social services, education and economic empowerment initiatives.

MediShare, a Medical Surplus Recovery Organisation (MSRO) and a national project of Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS) is strengthening the health system in Zimbabwe by working with the Angel of Hope Foundation, a non-profit organisation whose mission is to support the most vulnerable in society through providing access to healthcare, social services, education and economic empowerment initiatives, with an emphasis on women, youth and children.

The organisation is the brainchild of the First Lady of Zimbabwe, Her Excellency Amai Auxillia Mnangagwa. Dr Mnangagwa’s passion for the less privileged and most needy in Zimbabwe is evidenced in the programs, projects and events the organisation is involved in, and MediShare is proud to facilitate five containers of medical equipment, consumables, pathology items, mobility aids, humidicribs, and hospital linen and blankets to Zimbabwe.

Her Excellency personally visited the MediShare facility in Castle Hill, NSW, recently to select equipment for her foundation’s nearing completion of a specialised hospital for mothers and children in Harare to further enhance healthcare accessibility.

MediShare is geared for larger projects and works with a range of partners, government and not-for-profit organisations. Under the guidelines of the World Health Organisation new and usable surplus medical supplies, equipment and pharmaceutical products from hospitals, manufacturers and distributors it is providing sustainable healthcare solutions with developing countries.

The donated materials are processed to ensure quality and are made available to under-resourced health care providers. MediShare is committed to bridging the gap through its logistics and supply chain collaboration to these countries. MediShare also supports animal welfare organisations with pathology products and other consumables.

MediShare is accredited with MedSurplus Alliance, a program of the Task Force for Global Health in the United States to work with the Kits4Life program. It is currently the first and only MSRO outside of the US that has achieved this accreditation. Kits4Life is a not-for-profit platform created to re-purpose unused clinical trial lab kits and clinical supplies for humanitarian aid. MediShare now works with numerous global pharmaceutical companies to recover the surplus clinical trial lab supplies for humanitarian aid. It is a sustainable alternative to destroying unused or expired lab kits.

In the past four years, consumables and equipment having a retail value of more than $60 million has been donated to MediShare for humanitarian aid. For example, 40,000 clear tip thermometers, 6,000 walking sticks, seven million face masks, 40 humidicribs, large quantities of hospital beds, wheelchairs and mobility aids and general consumables.

In the past four years, consumables and equipment having a retail value of more than $60 million has been donated to MediShare for humanitarian aid.

In alliance with HealthShare NSW, MediShare is working on a hospital blanket and linen project, logistically managing 200,000 hospital grade blankets, manually folding and palletising them, plu     s $8 million worth of new barrier and operating theatre linen. To date, 100,000 blankets have been shipped to areas of need. Blankets and linen have been shipped to Somalia, Sri Lanka, South Sudan, the Philippines, Tanzania, Egypt, South Africa, Türkiye, The Solomons, Timor Leste and Bangladesh, totalling 70,000. Recently, 30,000 blankets were shipped to Jordan in alliance with the Global Aid Foundation to be made available to refugees or transported into the Gaza strip.

Working with the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations and Qantas, an estimated $15 million of medical consumables from bandages to body bags were airfreighted to Lviv in the first year of the hostilities.

MediShare has corporate volunteer days where staff members satisfy their companies corporate and social responsibility obligations. School groups, Inner Wheel clubs, Rotary clubs and private individuals also volunteer their time.

For more information on MediShare:

• Visit www.medishare.org.au
• Or contact National Manager Keith Roffey OAM via medishare.national@rawcs.org.au or 0419 046 688.