Direct Relief Gives $30,000 for Medical Needs of Uganda Bombing Victims

In response to the July 11 terrorist bombings in Kampala, Direct Relief International on Tuesday authorized an immediate cash grant of $30,000 to cover emergency medical needs of victims.

The funds are being provided to the African Medical Research and Education Foundation’s Uganda office in response to an urgent request from the Ministry of Health struggling to care for the mass-casualty situation caused by the bombings.

Direct Relief also is making its medical inventory available and seeking additional support from its network of health-care company partners for specialized equipment needed for reconstructive surgeries and serious, complex injuries among survivors. A specific needs list was developed by the Ministry of Health upon assessment of existing resources and survivors’ injuries.

Joshua Kyallo, AMREF country director for Uganda and a member of the emergency panel of Ugandan and international nongovernmental organizations convened by the minister of health, and Direct Relief’s international medical adviser, Dr. Mike Marks, are working on a coordinated response plan from within Uganda, with regional partners, and with AMREF’s and Direct Relief’s international operations.

“Direct Relief’s support will enable us to move very quickly with the Ministry of Health on the emergency response,” Kyallo said.

Direct Relief has worked in partnership with AMREF since 1996 to bolster improved access to and quality of health services in East Africa.

“We recognize that the larger development goals for health are often impeded by emergencies,” Direct Relief President and CEO Thomas Tighe said. “The people and facilities, including the AMREF team, now devoted to this crisis are the same people in facilities essential to the long-term efforts, and they need help.”

According to news reports, 74 people have been killed in the July 11 bombings at restaurants and nightclubs in Kampala, Uganda’s capital city.

— Juliana Minsky is a publicist.

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