Embassy News

Project HOPE and FH/US Delivers more than $1 million in Antibiotics to Turkmenistan’s Hospitals

Donation represents the largest single shipment to the country

PAS No 194
September 18, 2007

Project HOPE delivers humanitarian aid to Turkmenistan

Ashgabat, September 18, 2007 – The non-profit voluntary organizations Project HOPE and Food for the Hungry/U.S. have worked together to donate one million dollars in valuable antibiotics that are not produced in Turkmenistan and will be distributed through hospitals around the country and in rural areas.   The delivery of this broad spectrum antibiotic will support treatment of various acute infections, such as respiratory tract, urinary tract, and intra-abdominal infections.

Since 2000, Project HOPE, with funding from the United States Government through the U.S. Agency for International Development, has provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan in implementing the DOTS Strategy (Directly Observed Therapy-Short Course) for tuberculosis (TB) treatment.  With its partners, which are both state institutions and non-governmental organizations, Project HOPE develops and enhances elements of the National TB Program including training, monitoring and quality assessment, drug management, social mobilization, and laboratory materials.  Since the beginning of its work in Turkmenistan, Project HOPE assisted in equipping laboratories with binocular microscopes and reagents.  During the course of its work in Turkmenistan, anti TB drugs have also been supplied to the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan' tuberculosis hospitals in Ashgabat, Turkmenbashy, Mary, and Balkanabat.

Founded in 1958, Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere) is dedicated to providing lasting solutions to health problems with the mission of helping people to help themselves.  Identifiable to many by the “SS HOPE,” the world’s first peacetime hospital ship, Project HOPE now conducts land-based medical training and health education programs in more than 30 countries across five continents.  For more information, please visit www.projecthope.org.

Started by Dr. Larry Ward in 1971, Food for the Hungry is known around the world today as an international relief and development organization that endeavors to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the poor by working with indigenous churches, leaders, and families to create self-sustaining communities.