Mercy Corps Taps DHL’s Global Logistics Expertise to Deliver Medical Supplies to Iraq

Logistics Asia - Industry News, 6/5/2008

DHL, the express and logistics company, has teamed up with the global relief and development agency Mercy Corps to send $9.6 million worth of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies to southern Iraq. The emergency supplies will be distributed to hospitals in Iraqi cities that are short on resources and near the frontlines of recent fighting. Mercy Corps expects that the shipment will help 140,000 people get improved medical care.

DHL Express in Asia, Europe and the Middle East worked in tandem to contribute expenses and handle the cross-border transport of the shipment from the Netherlands to Kuwait. From Kuwait, where the shipment arrived on April 27, Mercy Corps expects to deliver the supplies into Iraq by the first week of May.

The shipment will be distributed to hospitals in Kut, Diwaniyah, Basra and Amarah that are treating large numbers of wounded and victims of trauma, as well as patients with infections and water-borne diseases. The shipment includes antibacterial drugs, medicines to fight infections and parasites, anesthetics and diuretics, as well as gauze, surgical blades, examination gloves, needles and syringes.

Mercy Corps, www.mercycorps.org
DHL, www.dhl.com