Adventist Health and ADRA Partner to Send Medical Supplies to Africa During Third Wave of COVID-19

Story by Adventist Health and ADRA Staff

Six shipping containers filled with medical supplies from Adventist Health are on their way to Africa to assist with COVID-19 emergency responses in Ghana, Malawi, Namibia, Uganda, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This $3 million project is the result of a partnership between California-based Adventist Health and the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), the international humanitarian branch of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Each shipping container is filled with general medical supplies, personal protective equipment, medication, operating room supplies and mobile medical testing equipment for COVID-19 and other diseases.

Both large and small health facilities in various regions of Africa have been overwhelmed with demand for healthcare due to COVID-19 infections. Scarcity of vaccines in Africa and challenges to treatment are undermining effective response to the third wave of the pandemic.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic occurred around the globe, ADRA has partnered with local authorities and agencies to ramp up emergency responses to serve nearly 20 million people in 96 countries impacted by the coronavirus.

In Africa alone, where reportedly more than 5.7 million cases of the virus are impacting several nations, ADRA aims to minimize the threat of COVID-19 by providing prevention training, engaging with the community and supplying healthcare workers with PPE, hygiene kits and more.

“ADRA has been responding to disasters for nearly 60 years and continues empowering and serving people facing global crises through the support of partners, such as Adventist Health. Thanks to their generous contribution, frontline workers in Africa will get the necessary equipment to protect themselves as they work to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and serve many lives,” said Alex Balint, ADRA’s director of corporate and social partnerships.

ADRA will assist Adventist Health with distribution of its medical supplies as they arrive at their destinations.

“This global health initiative is part of the Adventist Health commitment to engage in meaningful expressions of God’s love in communities in need of health, wholeness and hope,” said John Schroer, Global Missions system lead for Adventist Health, which serves more than 80 communities on the West Coast and Hawaii as well as others throughout the United States through its Blue Zones company.

This shipment is just one of several projects that Adventist Health and ADRA are partnering on around the world and is the second round of supplies sent to Africa as a result of the partnership. A third shipment is scheduled for February 2022.