A new INGO to provide health services for people in Myanmar.
Medical Action Myanmar (MAM) is a new international medical aid organization whose mission is to improve the health of the poorest people within Myanmar. It’s principal goals are to provide basic medical treatment and prevent the spread of infectious diseases. The motivation for the creation of this new NGO is the unmet health needs in Myanmar.
The driving force behind MAM is Dr Frank Smithius, former director of MSF and a long-term veteran in health activities in Myanmar together with three former colleagues Dr Khin Zarli Aye, Dr Ni Ni Tun and Renee Mous. In addition, a number of health professionals who have been involved in health activities in Myanmar are supporting MAM including Professor Nick White (Oxford and Mahidol University), Dr Alex Winkler (former director of MSF) Holland, currently director of Doctors for Children and Guy Stallworthy (former directore PSI Myanmar, currently working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation).
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By MATT KIELTYKA, 24 HOURS
A Lower Mainland couple is doing their best to make sure Myanmar’s cyclone victims aren’t forgotten. Nina Cassils and her husband John – together with another couple from Calgary – have been raising funds for international organizations since Cyclone Nargis devastated Myanmar in May.
Through private and online donations at cwasiafund.org, Cassils has raised about $740,000 for on-the-ground relief efforts, and she’s gone there to lend a hand herself.
“Imagine a wave coming and continuing through to Surrey, ripping at every tree and building in between and killing women and children,” she said.
Knowing how far a Canadian dollar can go in Myanmar, Cassils set up CW Asia Fund to fund relief efforts through four organizations, including Doctors Without Borders. But as Western society’s memory of the disaster fade away, so do the funds. “It’s a shame because so much more needs to be done,” she said, who is involved with local and international charities. “People don’t even have to give that much. They don’t realize that a dollar can feed an entire family.”
Up to 300,000 people were killed by the cyclone, with another 2.4 million living with the aftermath. Damage has been estimated in the billions of dollars
To date, 150 Physician Travel Packs have been delivered to partners around the world for emergency relief in 2008. Haiti and the Caribbean region have received 66 PTPS, while 34 were delivered to Myanmar, (white boxes above shipped free of charge by Air Canada to Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific to Bangkok, Thai Airlines into Yangon, Myanmar) if 28 to China and 24 to Zimbabwe thanks to the generosity of Canadian healthcare companies.
The May of Misfortune.
Cyclone Nargis hit land in Myanmar on May 2, 2008. As organizations around the world were still negotiating aid endeavours, a major earthquake struck the Sichuan area of China on May 12. HPIC responded to both of these disasters with donated Canadian medicine.
Medical aid for Myanmar was channelled through the Canadian group CW Asia Fund and used on the ground by AZG (Medecins Sans Frontieres, Holland). AZG reports working with local staff to deliver medical aid through fixed and mobile clinics in more than 300 villages. According to Nina Cassils of the CW Asia Fund, “Working directly with excellent global organizations with outposts in Myanmar allowed the donations to be used effectively for the benefit of the cyclone victims.”
Excerpt from Health Partners International Canada
For more information contact:
Margaret Buchanan, Manager, Media Relations – email: mbuchanan@hpicanada.ca
CW Asia Fund flies Canadian products into southern Myanmar
CW Asia Fund is on the leading-edge of Myanmar relief efforts with Canadian product donations delivered right into the ravaged region where help is needed most. CW Asia Fund delivered over 8,000 protein bars plus bottles of Vitamin C, donated by Jamieson Laboratories, plus other donated food products and medicines into Myanmar to provide assistance to malnourished children and adults.
When the CW Asia Fund contacted us, we agreed immediately to provide assistance, said Rob Ricci, Vice President of Marketing, Jamieson Laboratories. The CW Asia Fund is uniquely able to provide assistance directly where it is most needed right in to Myanmar’s worst hit areas. We encourage Canadian food and health companies to contact the CW Asia Fund to see how they can also provide support.
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Locals Raise Disaster Relief Funds for Myanmar Survivors CW ASIA FUND sets sights on $1Million for cyclone victims and seeks Canadian Government matching funds Vancouver, BC, May 22, 2008.
As Myanmar continues a three day mourning period, CW Asia Fund, made up of a small group of local Vancouver and Calgary volunteers, continues its efforts to raise $1 million (CDN) for emergency aid in response to the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis. In ten days, CW Asia Fund raised over $585,000 (CDN) and hopes to reach its goal by the end of next week, with the expectation that the Canadian Government will step in to match funds raised.
It is estimated that 1.5 million people have been affected by Cyclone Nargis and up to 300,000 killed, including 120,000 children. The estimated death toll now exceeds that of the 2004 Tsunami. The flooding has stopped in Myanmar, but the health risks continue to escalate and the death toll keeps climbing. The immensity of this human tragedy is verging on the unspeakable, said Dr. John Cassils, co-founder of CW Asia Fund:
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