Aug, 2021
Anera supplies critical medicines to public health centers
Anera has been working closely with Lebanon’s public healthcare centers to help ease the financial strain by providing them with medical provisions and equipment, which have been in short supply. The non-profit organization HOPE reports that public institutions receive less than 20% of the government’s health budget. The remaining funds are directed to private-sector institutions.
Anera has been working closely with Lebanon’s public healthcare centers to help ease the financial strain by providing them with medical provisions and equipment, which have been in short supply. The non-profit organization HOPE reports that public institutions receive less than 20% of the government’s health budget. The remaining funds are directed to private-sector institutions.
Lina Atat, Anera's medical donations program manager in Lebanon, says the drug shortage is alarming and requires immediate action. Thanks to generous medical aid donations from Health Partners International of Canada (HPIC), Anera has been able to distribute over 5,000 treatments of chronic, mental, and respiratory medications to patients from multiple public healthcare centers across Lebanon.
At the same time, Lebanon's economic collapse is causing many both private and public health facilities to shut their doors or drastically reduce their services. Local medical services and supplies have been drained. Health centers work at maximum capacity but, more often than not, without essential equipment and supplies.
“Since the port disaster, the October 17 uprising and the currency crisis, our living standards have deteriorated. But, we are able to survive thanks to the delivery of medicines for acute and chronic ailments from our loyal donors Anera and YMCA.”--Dr. Hala Shrayteh, Head Pharmacist, Dar al-Wafaa Gawth Primary Healthcare Center, Aramoun, Lebanon
“We are able to survive thanks to the delivery of medicines for acute and chronic ailments from our loyal donors.”
With so much focus on the pandemic, many humanitarian efforts have neglected other medical needs in Lebanon. Anera has worked to address these neglected areas of need in the healthcare system by providing help for patients suffering from mental health conditions and chronic diseases. Anera’s partner HPIC has donated medicines to treat these patients as well as essential medical supplies like face shields to protect health workers.
“Anera has been heroic in providing much-needed medicines and filling the gap in our stocks so we can continue to provide free medical services and supplies to thousands of patients,” says Dr. Hala Shrayteh, the head pharmacist at Dar al-Wafaa Gawth Primary Healthcare Center in Aramoun, Lebanon.
Using HPIC’s donation, Anera was able to distribute aid to public health centers across Lebanon, including Al-Kayan Beirut, Makassed Horj Center, Karageusian Primary Healthcare Center and Ghawth for Relief and Emergency Association.
"[People] are still traumatized by the blast and fearful of another explosion.”
The large donation includes medicine for chronic diseases like cholesterol, as well as heart and respiratory illnesses. It also contains mental health medicines, which are now virtually impossible to find for sale in Lebanon.
“Patients have been approaching us ever since of the Beirut port explosion last August," Shrayteh says. "Many are suffering from anxiety and insomnia. They are still traumatized by the blast and fearful of another explosion.”
Lebanon's deepening crisis is provoking an increasing number of mental health maladies that need to be treated but medicine to treat stress and anxiety are in short supply.
The demand for medicine to treat anxiety and other mental health issues has soared because of the increased pressure on families trying to cope with daily life. Atat says, "this donation from HPIC will help so many patients to better face their hardships.“
