Accra, May 2, GNA - Two medical organizations, BD, a leading global medical technology company, and Direct Relief International, a humanitarian medical aid non-profit organization, have announced a joint volunteer initiative to strengthen healthcare in two areas of Ghana.

A statement issued in Accra on Wednesday said working side-by-side for three weeks with clinic staff from Direct Relief partners at the Maranatha Maternity Clinic in the Ashanti Region and Motoka Clinic in on the Volta Lake, some 12 BD employee volunteers from around the globe will help build local healthcare capacity in the region. Over 100,000 people live in isolated villages in the Motaka Island area, a myriad of tiny islands and peninsulas, located off the northern shore of the lake.

The statement said this was the third company-sponsored service trip BD employees had made to sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2005 and 2006, BD employees volunteered at five clinics in Zambia to help strengthen the country's capacity to diagnose and treat infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS.

It said through training healthcare providers, constructing a new health facility, upgrading existing laboratory capabilities and incorporating clean water solutions at existing facilities, these volunteers in Ghana would bolster the clinics' ability to provide vitally needed services to their patients.

"This unique collaboration will strengthen health services for people in Ghana, where access to diagnostic and treatment services is scarce," said Direct Relief President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Tighe.

"BD has been a leader in sharing its healthcare products for humanitarian purposes, and we are honored that the company is sharing its most valuable resource - its employees' tremendous talent - toward the same end. These upgraded facilities will become major health resources for the entire region."

"The BD-Direct Relief collaboration in Ghana is natural, given the histories and missions of the two organizations," said Edward J. Ludwig, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of BD. "It could be a model for future private-nonprofit partnerships in the healthcare field. Both organizations strive to help address unmet global health needs in some of the most remote and underserved places in the world."

The Maranatha Maternity Clinic serves approximately 250 patients per month, of whom approximately 40 per cent are unable to pay for their medical treatment.

The rural Motoka Clinic, established in 1996, is the only source of healthcare for nearly 100,000 people in its district. Services offered at the clinic are complemented by regular mobile clinics conducted in villages that are only accessible by boat.

BD and Direct Relief have worked together since 1996, helping people in developing countries and disaster-ravaged areas, supplying and delivering specifically requested medical supplies to communities in greatest need.

BD and its associates are contributing money, products, talent and time to help people in Ghana treat disease and improve lives by raising health standards.

Direct Relief has assisted public and private healthcare facilities in Ghana since 1991 by supplying more than $5.5 million (wholesale) of critically needed medicines, medical supplies, nutritional products and medical equipment.

Limited access to clinical and laboratory health services is a major constraint to battling disease in developing countries. The majority of the disease burden exists in non-urban locations (districts and rural villages), and access to health services in these locations is often poor to non-existent. Malaria, tuberculosis, malnutrition and HIV/AIDS are primary health concerns in Ghana. 02 May 07