IMA World Health in the News

By Emily Esworthy/IMA

Word of IMA's lifesaving work is beginning to spread in the national news.

Kelly Dougherty packs a SMK for delivery in our New Windsor warehouse.

Most recently the IMA Safe Motherhood Kit™ (SMK) was featured on SaveOne.net, an online directory of lifesaving initiatives selected by ABC News 20/20 in affiliation with the "Be the Change: Save a Life" series. For the next year, ABC News will encourage viewers to take action and save lives by providing SMKs and other innovations to people in need around the world.

"The Safe Motherhood Kit™ is a simple, but powerful, tool that helps us fight infection from childbirth—a leading cause of death for mother and child," said Dr. Abdel Direny, Haiti NTD Country Program Manager for IMA. "I only wish we had more kits available."

Members of our staff in Haiti distribute Healthy Kids kits to school children.

Also, the financial publication Forbes named IMA World Health to its list of the "10 Most Efficient" US charities, the third year in a row that Forbes has listed IMA as one of the most efficient.

"We are deeply honored to again be recognized for our efficient operations," said Rick Santos, President and CEO of IMA. "All of us at IMA are continually aware of our need to leverage every dollar to do more, and we recognize that those who donate to IMA's work and those who benefit from our programs deserve no less."

Each year Forbes lists the top 200 charities in the US and recognizes those that demonstrate the greatest efficiency. The complete list can be found at http://www.forbes.com.

IMA will be commemorating the anniversary of the January 2010 Haiti earthquake with a Day of Prayer on January 12, 2011 at Carroll Lutheran Village in Westminster, Maryland, near IMA’s New Windsor headquarters.

Rick Santos, who survived the quake after being trapped beneath the collapsed Hotel Montana for over 50 hours, will share current conditions and needs in Haiti, while local clergy will lead a time of prayer for health, healing and comfort for the Haitian people.