Nepal Flood Relief Continues; Field Medic Packs Reach the Philippines and Panama

Over the past week, Direct Relief sent 571 shipments of requested medical aid, containing 15.2 million defined daily doses of medication, to organizations across 48 U.S. states and territories and 18 other countries.

Shipments sent this week included respiratory treatments, cancer therapies, rare disease therapies, and cold-chain equipment.

Medical Camp Brings Specialist Care to Flood-Affected Communities in Nepal

Mountain Heart Nepal, in collaboration with WOREC Nepal, organized a multidisciplinary medical camp for communities still recovering from flooding and landslides, with essential medicines donated by Direct Relief supporting the effort. More than 250 patients received care with access to general medicine, specialist care, and psychosocial counseling, services that would otherwise require significant travel.

Women also received cervical cancer screening, and women and adolescent girls took part in sessions on reproductive health.

"Specialist doctors and health workers need to reach people's doorsteps," said Dr. Ram Thapa Chhetri, Mountain Heart Nepal's camp coordinator. "Camps like this also let us screen for diseases that have gone unrecognised for a long time, find them early and refer people for treatment."

Mountain Heart Nepal also handed over three emergency medical backpacks to strengthen local emergency response capacity, two to Gajuri Rural Municipality and one to the Nepal Army's Shree Bhairav Gan, stationed in Gajuri, to support frontline medical response during future emergencies.

Volunteers Assemble 100 Field Medic Packs in the Philippines

Direct Relief partner Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation, or PDRF, hosted a packing event at its Operations Center in Clark, Philippines, where 20 student and youth volunteers from the University of the Philippines, Clark, spent three hours assembling 100 field medic packs. The initial 20 bags will go to newly trained emergency medical responders from PDRF partner communities across the country.

The event comes as the Philippines faces the dual threat of severe tropical cyclones during typhoon season and challenges posed by El Niño. Creating a strategic stockpile in the Philippines, which regularly ranks among the most disaster-prone nations in the world, allows responders to deploy quickly when disaster strikes.

"We're very happy we have this very strong partnership with Direct Relief," said Arnel Capili, Operations Center Director at PDRF. "Through the prepositioning of these emergency response bags, we're able to make sure that our responders are able to be deployed in a very timely manner so that we can make a difference in the lives of those who are affected by disasters in the Philippines."

Pre-Positioned Supplies Support Panama Earthquake Response

The Pan American Health Organization, or PAHO, delivered 20 field medic packs donated by Direct Relief to Panama's Ministry of Health this month, supporting health teams responding to the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck the country's Azuero Peninsula on Oct. 9. The backpacks, distributed through the Los Santos Health Region, were drawn from Direct Relief inventory prepositioned at PAHO's regional strategic reserve warehouse in Panama City, designed to help health workers reach communities and shelters where access to care may be limited.

"Following an earthquake, it is essential to bring health care closer to communities and shelters," said Lilian Reneau Gaitán, PAHO/WHO Representative a.i. in Panama.

Having supplies like hurricane preparedness packs and emergency backpacks pre-positioned with PAHO in Panama allows for a quick regional response, a model that has supported past emergencies including the earthquakes in Venezuela earlier this year and Hurricane Melissa's impact on Jamaica and Haiti last year.

Operational Snapshot

United States

Direct Relief sent 526 shipments weighing 19,759 pounds and containing 1.5 million defined daily doses of medication.

Around the World

Outside the U.S., Direct Relief sent 13.6 million defined daily doses of medication, weighing 84,860 pounds.

Year to date

Since January 1, 2026, Direct Relief has delivered 18.9K shipments to 2,627 partner organizations in 53 US states and territories and 92 countries. These shipments contained 332.2M defined daily doses of medication valued at $1.5B (wholesale) and totaled 3.8M lbs.