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UPS flies aid to drought-hit Sahel

[ April 24, 2012   //   ]

UNICEF partner UPS provided transport for the first aerial shipment of lifesaving supplies to Mauritania this year as part of the international aid effort to the drought-hit Sahel region of West and Central Africa that is affecting at least one million children.

The UPS flight, departing from Cologne, Germany on 22 April contained more than 46 tonnes of critical UNICEF relief supplies including nutrition, health, education, water, sanitation, and hygiene items. UPS worked quickly with UNICEF to coordinate the shipment of relief items from various locations including UNICEF’s Supply Centers in Copenhagen, Madrid, Lier, and Toulouse for delivery to Mauritania on Sunday, April 22.

UPS international president Dan Brutto, and a member of the board of directors of the US Fund for UNICEF explained: “Logistics plays an incredibly vital role whenever a humanitarian crisis occurs, which is why UPS has lent its expertise for many years to bringing critical logistical support to areas of the world affected by disease, drought and other disasters. For example, we just completed a temperature-controlled move of flu vaccine from the US to Laos. With this drought situation in the Sahel region, millions of lives are at stake and UPS is proud to be working with our partners at UNICEF to provide timely, life-saving supplies to the people of West and Central Africa.”

An estimated 15 million people are affected by the drought in eight countries across the Sahel, including Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and northern Cameroon, Nigeria, and Senegal. UNICEF needs more than $60 million for immediate relief operations to save children’s lives and prevent a humanitarian disaster from unfolding. To make a tax-deductible contribution please contact the U.S. Fund for UNICEF: www.unicefusa.org/sahel

 

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