Drug aid saving underprivileged from Nigeria's healthcare nightmare

One in five seniors reports cutting back on basics like food or heat to afford prescription drugs - for many, cutting back on medicine led to faster health declines, increased hospitalizations and premature death. Sirum, a new nonprofit, was designed to make it easy for institutions to donate medicines with the assurance that they would be safely transported and dispensed to people who needed them.

South Africa's implementation of 6MMD (six multi-month dispensing) allows stable HIV patients to collect their antiretroviral medications only twice a year instead of monthly. The program aims to reduce clinic congestion and improve patient retention and consistent medication use.

In response to varying abortion bans across states, nonprofit organizations are emerging to help women in states with strict abortion laws access the care they need. Nonprofits like the Center for Reproductive Rights, Northwest Abortion Access Fund and Indigenous Idaho Alliance provide women with free abortion pills, help them travel out of state for care and even challenge local courts attempting to pass strict trigger laws.

Some medical professionals and companies like Genemarkers are using pharmacogenomic testing (PGx) to test a patient’s genetic makeup to see how they may metabolize certain drugs. This process has been around for years but is starting to pick up speed in the mental health care scene to allow doctors to prescribe medications with greater accuracy.

Drug Aid Africa sources unused, unaltered drugs from people who don’t need them anymore and distributes them to people who do need them but can’t afford or access them. Drug Aid Africa provides free routine medications for conditions like sickle-cell anemia, as well as antimalarials, antibiotics and frequent visits to communities where they provide healthcare support and supplies. So far, the organization's efforts have helped more than 10,000 people.

Germany, like the U.S., has a largely private healthcare system that relies on private doctors and private insurers. Like Americans, many Germans enroll in a health plan through work, splitting the cost with their employer. But Germany strictly limits how much patients have to pay out of their own pockets for a trip to the doctor, the hospital, or the pharmacy, making medical debt practically nonexistent.

By working with a nonprofit, Las Libres, in Guanajuato, Mexico, volunteers are helping women access medication for abortions for free. Las Libres organizes the supply chain to get the medication to those in need in abortion-ban states in the United States.

The nonprofit Las Libres in Guanajuato, Mexico, helps women access medication for abortions for free. By working with volunteers like the Old Hippies of San Miguel de Allende, the organization delivers the medication to distributors in abortion-ban states in the United States.

The Grace Upon Grace Project seeks to address period poverty – the inability of people who menstruate to afford sanitary supplies – by providing free access to tampons and pads. The organization hosts a monthly free product distribution event that serves hundreds of people. They advertise events on social media, but will also provide a set number of supplies to people in need who contact them in-between events. The organization will deliver supplies to those who qualify but cannot access the events. Women can also receive supplies of diapers and pull-ups for children if needed.

Volunteers with India’s Meds For More initiative (MFM) collect leftover unused medications from recovered Covid-19 patients by canvassing their apartment buildings, offices, student clubs, schools, and other locations. Once collected, MFM distributes them to NGOs licensed to work in the health sector, who transport the medicines to marginalized communities in urban and rural areas. Medical professionals sort and pack the medicines and give them to local hospitals and health care centers, who distribute them to patients. The success of the program has inspired similar initiatives in several other cities.