Two years ago, Russia invaded Ukraine, and the armed conflict that followed has killed at least 29,000 civilians and injured at least 19,000, according to data from the United Nations. A Portland nonprofit has spent those two years equipping Ukrainian health care providers with nearly $5 million of medical supplies that would otherwise have been thrown out.

Partners for World Health, a Portland-based nonprofit with operations throughout New England, first sent supplies to Ukraine at the onset of the war. The shipments have been in line with the nonprofit’s mission of routinely repurposing unused medical supplies that would otherwise be thrown away from New England health care facilities, manufacturers and individuals. Since 2009, the organization has collected, sorted and sent millions of pounds of supplies to individuals, communities, health care facilities and developing countries that need them.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Russian forces attacked Ukrainian residential areas and hospitals, and civilians reported that Russian forces have committed violent war crimes. In the years that have followed, Ukraine has successfully recaptured 54% of occupied territory, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. But the war endures.

Following the outbreak of the war, Partners for World Health launched an emergency appeal for Ukraine. Volunteers loaded trucks full of surgical instruments, scanners, defibrillators and imaging equipment that were shipped through Poland and trucked into Ukraine while avoiding areas under siege by Russia.

On the second anniversary of the war’s outbreak, Partners for World Health is still focused on that work and calling for attention to return to the unending war.

“This week PWH are relaunching their Ukraine Response Appeal to ensure urgently needed supplies continue to make it to those in need and are preparing their twelfth and thirteenth shipments via sea and air as Ukrainian hospitals and health professionals struggle to treat those injured by bombs, missiles, gunshots, war crimes and landmines,” the organization said in a release. “In the last two years, PWH has sent supplies valued at over $4,890,000 and equipped dozens of doctors, nurses, EMTs and other volunteers serving in Ukraine and working with refugees in surrounding countries.”

The nonprofit most recently shipped a 3D printer that creates custom-fit prosthetics. And it has up to nine shipments on the docket.

Partners for World Health is encouraging people to donate at www.partnersforworldhealth.org to continue this work.

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