Baxter International Foundation and Direct Relief Mobile Health Program Connects 23,000 People to Critical Services in First Year

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Deerfield, Ill. and Santa Barbara, Calif., - 2017-12-06

Driving Your Health (Manejando tu Salud), a mobile health program supported by Baxter International Foundation and the global humanitarian organization Direct Relief, has provided direct access to important health services to more than 23,000 people in its first year of operation and indirectly impacted nearly 140,000 individuals via medical consulting or educational resources. Based on these results, the program is expected to exceed its three-year goal of helping more than 350,000 people living in disadvantaged communities in and around Mexico City.

“The main objective of the program is to prevent medical conditions by expanding access to health care, providing health education and increasing the early detection of potentially serious health conditions such as non-communicable diseases like diabetes the leading cause of death in Mexico,” said Eduardo Mendoza, General Manager, Direct Relief Mexico. “We have seen the positive results of creating partnerships and collaborative opportunities between NGOs in Mexico.”

“Baxter International Foundation is proud of these initial results as they underscore the unmet healthcare needs of this community,” said Stacey Eisen, president of Baxter International Foundation and senior vice president, Global Communications. “The foundation mission is to increase access to healthcare for disadvantaged communities, and this program allows us to provide the underserved people in Mexico City with access to health services and health education.”

Driving Your Health, which is funded by a $2.25 million grant from Baxter International Foundation, tackles three areas that are central to improving community health outcomes – basic preventive care, support managing chronic conditions and transportation assistance to get to and from hospitals for treatment. Program services include:

• Orden de Malta and Asociación Gilberto “Association Gilberto” provide mobile health units, comprised of doctors and nurses, which provide screening and essential health services in 50 locations in Mexico City. These healthcare professionals support patient self-management of chronic diseases, as well as provide hundreds of thousands of individuals with educational resources. Asociación Gilberto “Association Gilberto” joined the program in May and provides diabetic, respiratory, ophthalmological and dental diagnostic services.
• Transportation, which is provided by program partner Casa de la Amistad “House of Friendship for Children with Cancer”, to hospitals for nearly 5,000 pediatric cancer patients and their caregivers, allowing them to have access to life-saving treatment. Lack of access to reliable transportation is reported as one of the main barriers to care for 73 percent of the patients served by the program.
• Training seminars, provided by Asociación Mexicana de Diabetes “Mexican Diabetes Association”, for more than 230 physicians, nurses, and specialists with best practices in patient education related to diabetes and hypertension prevention and management.

The mobile health program is also being supported by employees from Baxter’s Mexico operations. Employees have contributed 500 volunteer hours and have packed over 1,600 hygiene kits to be delivered to program beneficiaries.

About Baxter and Baxter International Foundation

Baxter and Baxter International Foundation are committed to saving and sustaining lives. Every day, Baxter employees strive to make a meaningful difference in the lives of people who depend on Baxter products, and in the communities where employees live and work. The company focuses on advancing three core areas: improving access to healthcare; fostering tomorrow’s innovation and serving its communities. Baxter works closely with public and private partners around the world to ensure people have access to the healthcare they need, to develop the next generation of innovators who will lead the way in advancing care, and to create long-lasting impact in Baxter’s communities. Baxter International Foundation supports initiatives and organizations that make a positive, lasting impact on increasing access to healthcare for the disadvantaged and underserved. For more information, please visit www.baxter.com. 

About Direct Relief

Established in 1948 with a mission to improve the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies, Direct Relief delivers life-saving medical resources throughout the world – without regard to politics, religion, ethnic identities, or ability to pay. With operations in Mexico and as well as more than 80 countries and all 50 states in the U.S., Direct Relief is the only charitable nonprofit to obtain Verified Accredited Wholesale Distributor (VAWD) accreditation by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. Among other distinctions, Direct Relief earns a perfect score of 100 from independent evaluator Charity Navigator, was listed among the world's most innovative nonprofits by Fast Company, and has received the CECP Directors' Award, the Drucker Prize for Nonprofit Innovation, and the President's Award from Esri for excellence in GIS mapping. For more information, please visit www.DirectRelief.org.