 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Pakistan: Packard Supports Earthquake Relief WASHINGTON, D.C. and ISLAMABAD, Pakistan December 31, 2005 — PSI announced today that it had received a $1,000,000 grant on October 21, 2005 from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to provide life-saving aid for survivors of the devastating earthquake in Pakistan. "For many years, our Foundation has supported projects in Pakistan to expand access to family planning and reproductive health services and to foster leadership in the population field. It is important to us to step in at this time of crisis in Pakistan to support life-saving efforts," said Carol S. Larson, Packard Foundation president and CEO. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is a private family foundation created in 1964 by David Packard (1912-1996), cofounder of the Hewlett-Packard Company, and Lucile Salter Packard (1914-1987). The Foundation provides grants to nonprofit organizations in conservation and science; population; and children, families, and communities. The Foundation makes national and international grants which include support for a wide variety of activities including direct services, research and policy development, and public information and education. Foundation assets were approximately $5.6 billion as of September 30, 2005. General program grant awards totaled approximately $217 million in 2004, and the Foundation has a grant-making budget of approximately $200 million in 2005. PSI and its Pakistani affiliate, Greenstar Social Marketing, are using the Packard Foundation grant to provide safe drinking water, meet urgent reproductive health needs, and deploy medical volunteers and a mobile health unit in the worst-hit areas. In coming months, Packard Foundation funds will also support the reestablishment of private sector health services that were decimated by the quake. PSI and Greenstar are working with public, private, and nonprofit local and international partners to save lives and safeguard health in affected areas. "Greenstar responded to the earthquake from day one, providing immediate medical assistance in areas that hadn't been reached and moving safe water treatment and other health supplies to locations where survivors could get to them. The Packard Foundation grant enables us to lend greater support to the Government of Pakistan's efforts to reach those in need," explained Imran Zafar, CEO of Greenstar. With funds from the Packard Foundation, PSI/Greenstar will provide millions of liters of safe drinking water, reproductive health products and services, and essential medical attention to earthquake survivors. PSI implements health programs in 70 countries worldwide, distributing
and promoting high quality, affordable health products, services, and
information to those in need. Its' affiliate Greenstar reaches millions
of low-income Pakistanis every year through mass media, community meetings,
and thousands of private-sector medical clinics and retail outlets across
the country. Greenstar's Sabz Sitara portfolio has become synonymous
with high quality, affordable family planning in Pakistan, while Greenstar's
new GoodLife portfolio addresses a broader spectrum of health needs,
including maternal and child health issues such as safe water, nutrition
and malaria, as well as infectious diseases such as HIV and TB.
|
 |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||
