Blessings International - Medicines for Missions

Clinics Closing in Developing Nations Due to Decrease in Donated Medicines - May 2008 - For some time, Blessings has experienced continuously decreasing donations of medicines. Many years ago we saw this occurring among brand-name medicine manufacturers, and since the late 1990s, we have experienced the same among generic manufacturers. Since then we began to fill in the holes in our drug formulary with purchased generics. This donation decrease happened mainly due to buyouts and consolidations within the pharmaceutical industry. In addition, efficiency in predicting market demand eliminated productions overruns, which is the usual source of donated product, as well as short-dated medicines. In 2007, Blessings did not receive any drug donations. ... MORE

Study of an Oral Treatment of Scabies - May 2008 - Blessings International is facilitating an important new study for the treatment of scabies, commonly called the seven year itch because itching caused by this body mite is so persistent until a patient is healed. [show picture of scabies body mite]. This study will determine the effectiveness of ivermectin as an oral treatment for this parasitic disease. It will also assess the number of incident failures to achieve a cure with one course of therapy that require re-treatment MORE

Pakistani Earthquake Relief Effort - October/November 2005 - The 7.6 magnitude earthquake on 8 October centered in Balakot Pakistan caused over 86,000 documented deaths to this date in Pakistan and an estimated 3 million people homeless. Eleven days after that earthquake while reports were streaming in about the needs of the survivors, an opportunity opened up for Blessings International to contribute a major amount of medicine to a team of eight physicians/residents from In His Image in Tulsa. The request came only 5 days before their departure. With some fast efforts, a pallet of medicines was picked up one day later. I had already mailed out my passport for a visa, but didnt commit to reservations until receiving this request. MORE

Tsunami Relief - Vol. 22, No. 1, 2005 - From shortly after this mega-disaster whose final death toll will be around 250,000, Blessings International has been heavily engaged obtaining pharmaceuticals for use by medical teams serving in Ache province of Sumatra, Indonesia and also in Sri Lanka. Now efforts are shifting to medical services provided by Indonesian nationals and helping rebuild medical care infrastructure. MORE

Iraq - Medical Team sets Precident in Iraq - Vol. 21, No. 2, 2004 - In February 2004 Blessings International sponsored a medical team which ministered to both Muslims and Christians in both churches and clinics in Bagdad and Kirkuk. MORE (The attached PDF document contains names that were intentionally greyed out to protect the individuals.)

Iraq - Delivery of Anti-Tumor Drug to Iraq - Vol. 21, No. 1, 2004 - Blessings International recently completed a project to deliver a large quantity of a drug, 6-mercaptopurine to the Al Mansour Pediatric Teaching Hospital in Baghdad. This effort was the culmination of almost a years effort to source, manufacture, and deliver this drug used mainly for treating children with acute lymphocytic leukemia. MORE

Iraq - Dawn for a New Era for Iraq - Vol.20, No.2, 2003 - Awesome! Sometimes I have a difficulty expressing in words what I am feeling in my spirit. Awesome and tremendous are two evocative words that come to mind along with the thoughts: Thank you Jesus and Praise the Lord....MORE

Iraq - Equipment Project for Hospital Kirkuk Iraq -Vol.21, No.2, 2004 - K-1 Hospital in Kirkuk, Iraq was totally looted of virtually all its hospital equipment at the fall of Saddam Husseins regime prior to the arrival of US lead forces. The leadership of this hospital provided Blessings International a list of essential equipment which is intended only to help get the hospital functioning again. At present, only medical patients are admitted. There is absolutely no equipment for monitoring patients or for performing various physiological tests. No respirators for the operating room, no autoclave to sterilize surgical instruments, no ECG or EEG machines, etc. The list provided is very modest list of used equipment that will enable five departments to begin to function again. Blessings International will ship donated equipment to Iraq...MORE

Afghanistan - Ministering to Afghans - Vol.20, No.1, 2003 - Eyeball to eyeball with me, six foot tall Haji Barach demanded to know when our team would depart for his village in Afghanistan with trucks loaded with food, medicine, and other relief supplies... MORE

India - Orissa Medical Camp - Vol. 18, No.1, 2000 - A grown man without feet crawled below my window on the dirt road past the entrance to the Hotel Grand Central, Old Station Bazar, Bhubaneswar, India. The beggar received some coins from a kind proprietor and proceeded... MORE

North Korea - North Korea Report - Vol. 17, No.1, 1999 - In late February a door of opportunity opened up for Blessings to visit the People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), after several years of waiting, several false starts, seemingly hundreds of phone calls, faxes, and emails. In deed this was finally about to occur after shipping more than $500,000 worth of medicines donated by various other organizations... MORE

Sierra Leone - Costly Flight to Sierra Leone - Vol.19, No.1, 2001 - The time had come for me to depart from my precious wife dressed in her Nigerian blue dress, looking so nice, in order to continue on to Sierra Leone alone. Originally I had planned on taking Linda with me to Sierra Leone and Liberia.... MORE

Nigeria - Safari through Nigeria - Vol.18, No.2 2000 - For almost ten years I had been attempting to visit the many hospitals that we serve in Nigeria but each time a trip was planned to West Africa, none of the appropriate people were in country. This was complicated by years of civil strife that made obtaining visas a prolonged, difficult and expensive process... MORE