Life Sciences donations keep hope afloat in Africa
June 2009
Corning’s Life Sciences products are helping to make a difference in the lives of individuals without access to healthcare in Africa. How? Through Mercy Ships, a nonprofit global charity organization which has operated a growing fleet of hospital ships in developing nations since 1978.
Corning’s Life Sciences products, including pipets and caps, vials, and microscope slides, are stocked aboard Africa Mercy, the largest vessel in the Mercy Ship fleet. This equipment donated by Corning is used by Mercy Ships’ volunteer surgeons to treat thousands of patients a year with specialized procedures common in the developed world, but unheard-of in remote areas like Benin. Many, if not all, of these patients have no other means to receive quality healthcare.
Corning products are critical in the day-to-day operations of the Africa Mercy laboratory. Corning Life Sciences products are used every single day to provide quality diagnostic information. The quality glass products are used in all immunohematology procedures for surgical patient blood donation assessment, as well as in the microscopic diagnosis of malaria and other tropical diseases. Additionally, precision pipette supplies and cryogenic vials are used in the many daily diagnostic laboratory procedures.
Corning Life Sciences has, for many years, joined other multinational companies like Motorola and Johnson & Johnson in contributing equipment to Mercy Ships. This year alone, Mercy Ships surgeons will provide about 6,000 surgeries in Benin and in their land-based clinic in Sierra Leone. Mercy Ships crew is comprised of approximately 450 individuals from 35 different countries.
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