Direct Relief delivers medical aid to Nepal, the Philippines, and Panama

Direct Relief dispatched 571 shipments of requested medical aid over the past week, containing 15.2 million defined daily doses of medication, to organizations across 48 U.S. states and territories and 18 other countries, according to a press release by Direct Relief. The shipments included respiratory treatments, cancer therapies, rare disease therapies, and cold-chain equipment. Deliveries supported flood recovery in Nepal, disaster readiness in the Philippines, and earthquake response in Panama. Partners on the ground coordinated distribution to communities facing limited access to care. The effort reflects Direct Relief’s ongoing commitment to humanitarian health response worldwide.

In Nepal, Mountain Heart Nepal partnered with WOREC Nepal to run a multidisciplinary medical camp for communities still recovering from flash floods and landslides. Essential medicines donated by Direct Relief supported the camp, which served more than 250 patients. Attendees received general medicine, specialist care, and psychosocial counseling, services typically requiring significant travel. Women received cervical cancer screening, while women and adolescent girls joined sessions on reproductive health. Mountain Heart Nepal also handed over three emergency medical backpacks, two to Gajuri Rural Municipality and one to the Nepal Army’s Shree Bhairav Gan stationed in Gajuri.

In the Philippines, Direct Relief partner Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF) hosted a packing event at its Operations Center in Clark. Twenty student and youth volunteers from the University of the Philippines, Clark, spent three hours assembling 100 field medic packs. The initial 20 bags will go to newly trained emergency medical responders from PDRF partner communities nationwide. The event comes as the Philippines faces severe tropical cyclones during typhoon season alongside challenges posed by El Niño. The strategic stockpile allows responders to deploy quickly when disaster strikes in one of the world’s most disaster-prone nations.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) delivered 20 field medic packs donated by Direct Relief to Panama’s Ministry of Health this month. The backpacks support health teams responding to the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck the Azuero Peninsula on Oct. 9. Distributed through the Los Santos Health Region, the supplies were drawn from Direct Relief inventory prepositioned at PAHO’s regional strategic reserve warehouse in Panama City.

“Following an earthquake, it is essential to bring health care closer to communities and shelters,” said Lilian Reneau Gaitán, PAHO/WHO Representative a.i. in Panama.

The prepositioned model previously supported earthquakes in Venezuela earlier this year and Hurricane Melissa’s impact on Jamaica and Haiti last year.

Since January 1, 2026, Direct Relief has delivered 18.9K shipments to 2,627 partner organizations in 53 U.S. states and territories and 92 countries. These shipments contained 332.2M defined daily doses of medication valued at $1.5B wholesale and totaled 3.8M pounds. In the U.S. alone this week, Direct Relief sent 526 shipments weighing 19,759 pounds and containing 1.5 million defined daily doses of medication. Outside the U.S., shipments reached countries including Venezuela, Syria, Ukraine, Mexico, Afghanistan, India, Uganda, Malawi, and Liberia. The deliveries reinforce Direct Relief’s role in strengthening partner response capacity across diverse emergencies.