Direct Relief International to Host Conference on Worldwide Medical Aid

Direct Relief International
Friday, 2 February 2001

SANTA BARBARA, CA (February 5, 2001) — Direct Relief International, a Santa Barbara-based nonprofit humanitarian medical aid organization, will host a two-day conference bringing together corporate donors of pharmaceuticals and other medical supplies with the end recipients of those goods from such countries as Sierra Leone, Guyana and Bulgaria. The Strategic Alliances conference will be held on Thursday, February 8 and Friday, February 9 at Direct Relief headquarters, 27 South La Patera Lane in Santa Barbara. The sessions will provide the first opportunity for major corporate givers to engage in dialogue with health-care providers who use the companies' donated product in the developing world.

The conference will address the practical problems of designating appropriate product, properly packaging and safely shipping that product to enhance the life saving efforts of hospitals and clinics in even the most remote areas around the world.

Direct Relief International was founded in 1948, and last year sent more than $67 million worth of medical supplies and equipment to victims of poverty, civil unrest and natural disasters worldwide.

For more information, or to contact Direct Relief International, see their website at: www.directrelief.org