The challenge and opportunity

More than 1 billion people live with inadequate health provision and half of the global population has no access to essential medical supplies.  In the developing world, one in five children do not live to see their fifth birthday and in many countries over 1 in 12 women die in pregnancy or childbirth.

The aims of governments around the world have, rightly, been to build capacity within the nations of the developing world. The establishment of an effective and sustainable economy and healthcare infrastructure are prerequisites to tackling poverty and inadequate health provision. There is the need to build local low cost drug markets and manufacturing capability, to ensure on going access to the essential medicines that are needed.

However, the amount of funding from the international community is woefully inadequate with the total global aid and government budget in Afghanistan, for example, only able to meet 35% of the national healthcare needs. While we await the creation of local healthcare provision, which will take decades rather than months, there are massive humanitarian challenges. Millions lack the essential primary healthcare needs, while there are companies in the UK that would be willing to “produce to donate” and to channel production surpluses through International Health Partners to meet the evident needs. IHP operates within the framework of the WHO's "Guidelines for Drug Donations". IHP aims to run its programmes to help Governments, international organizations and NGOs working of the developing world to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals.

IHP builds on the best practice in Canada and has established itself as the broker-clearing house between the needs in the developing world and the supply in the UK. IHP enables companies across the healthcare supply chain to enter into a corporate social responsibility programme to safely donate their products to bolster the UK's international aid effort. Only a very few healthcare companies "produce to donate" and over £150m of quality in-date drugs and healthcare supplies are currently destroyed each year by the industry in the UK, for lack of safe distribution channels into the overseas development and humanitarian aid community.

International Health Partners (UK) Ltd: The Fold, Beech Hill, Wadhurst, East Sussex TN5 6JR
Company Registered No: 5044723     Registered Charity No: 1105455     ©  International Health Partners (UK) Ltd

This site was updated on 23.05.07