International Relief Teams

Humanitarian Crisis in
Uzbekistan

The recent violent ethnic conflict in Kyrgyzstan where more than 250 people have been killed has triggered a mass wave of refugees, mainly women, children and the elderly, across the border into the Andijan province of Uzbekistan.

In response to this increasingly urgent humanitarian situation where as many as 40,000 of the 100,000 refugees are without shelter IRT is preparing an air shipment of medicines and relief supplies to address the health problems of the refugees including child malnutrition, diarrheal diseases, hypertension, minor injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder.

IRT is partnering with an established NGO in the region that will distribute the shipment to hospitals and clinics treating the victims of the ethnic violence who are in dire need of assistance. To donate to this vital relief effort, please click here.

Drilling Wells -
Transforming Lives in Sudan

People are dying from water in remote villages in Southern Sudan. Every day, millions of Southern Sudanese, usually women and children, must trek mile to collect water from ponds, marshes, ditches or hand-dug wells. This water is often contaminated with disease-causing parasites and bacteria. The results are pain, sickness, even death, especially among infants and children.

Where safe, clean water flows, health, education and economic development, spring up. Safe water brings new hope and opportunities to Southern Sudan's people, empowering them to change their lives.

"In partnership with "Water for Sudan" and the Rancho Santa Fe Rotary Club, IRT is helping to provide clean water for communities in Southern Sudan by financing the drilling of wells. Eleven new wells have been drilled so far this year, each affecting more than 3,000 people. Since 2003 fifty-five wells have been drilled - affecting 150,000 people".

Haiti Relief

The 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12 was one of the worst natural disasters in history affecting more than 3 million people and killing more than 200,000. More than 2 months after the earthquake an estimated one million people remain homeless and in need of food, water, shelter and medicines.

When the earthquake first hit, IRT immediately deployed emergency medical volunteers to Port-au-Prince. They worked at General Hospital treating hundreds of earthquake victims. IRT has also airlifted and/or shipped $1 million in medicines and medical supplies, 1,000 hygiene kits, 1,236 large family tents, and more than 100,000 meals of supplemental dehydrated food.

IRT is currently working with a local humanitarian organization whose orphanage, including a school and clinic, was destroyed by the earthquake. Forty-seven orphans are now all living in one small tent with only the clothes that they are wearing. IRT has sent a shipment of tents to house these children. But this orphanage is only one of hundreds of orphanages that were destroyed in the earthquake - leaving thousands of orphans without food or proper shelter. Meeting the needs of the extremely large displaced population will remain IRT's focus for the months ahead. To donate to this vital relief effort, please click here.

Clean Water for Haiti

IRT, in partnership with Haiti Vision, a Haiti-based nonprofit humanitarian organization, has recently purchased a solar-powered water purification system from World Waters and Solar Technologies, Inc, for deployment to Haiti as part of ongoing disaster relief and recovery efforts. The system provides clean energy from the rays of the sun and is operational within 30 minutes after arriving on site. The energy can be used to pump and purify water and will produce 15,000 gallons every 12 hours (enough to provide clean water to 7-10,000 people a day).

In 2008, WorldWater & Solar Technologies staff worked with the Red Cross & others to bring its water purification system to Haiti to help alleviate the water crisis caused by the hurricanes

The need for additional water purification systems in Haiti is critical, as Haiti enters its rainy season. For those living in tent cities and elsewhere, contaminated water presents grave dangers for such water-born diseases as cholera and dysentery. To donate to this vital relief effort, please click here.

Saving Newborns in Vietnam
IRT's 5th neonatal resuscitation team
returns from Vietnam

IRT is laying the foundation for saving countless newborn lives in Vietnam for years to come. Through its Project "Healthy Baby" program, a "training of trainers" program conducted in partnership with Project Vietnam Foundation (PVF), IRT is training Vietnamese doctors and nurses who deliver or care for newborns as instructors in how to effectively resuscitate babies experiencing breathing difficulties or other medical emergencies that demand instant effective intervention.

IRT's 5th neonatal resuscitation team recently returned from Vietnam where they trained instructors and then monitored them as they trained their colleagues. Ten of 14 planned regional training centers (full country coverage) have now been established and a total of 130 Vietnamese practitioners have now been trained as NRP instructors. The Vietnamese instructors have already trained more than 1,000 of their colleagues.

After months of discussion with IRT, PVF and other stakeholders, the Vietnamese National Health Ministry recently passed legislation mandating neonatal resuscitation training at all hospitals throughout the country that have obstetrical and/or neonatal units. The legislation gives the IRT-trained Vietnamese instructors a ready supply of motivated practitioners - eager to learn these life-saving methods. To support this vital program, please click here.