Laura Petrosian, NIS Desk Officer
Project HOPE
Health Sciences Education Center
Millwood, VA 22646
Tel: (703) 837-2100
Fax: (703) 837-1813

Get the latest information on Project Hope's Center for Health Affairs in the US-NIS Organizations section of the Website.

Project HOPE has distributed medical supplies to more than 290 hospitals in the NIS since 1990. Disbursements are made only after HOPE volunteers--doctors, pharmacists, and logistics specialists--have made on-site visits to assess the needs and capacities of hospitals to ensure the supplies will be properly utilized.

Its project in Moscow followed a train wreck in the Urals in June 1989 in which a train rode into a large pool of liquid petroleum and exploded, killing 300 passengers and burning hundreds more, many of them children. At that time Soviet children with burns over 30% of their body were given little chance of survival. In the U.S., by contrast, advanced burn centers expect to save children with burns on up to 95% of their bodies.

In July 1990 Project HOPE, the USSR Ministry of Health, the Moscow Health Dept., and Children's Hospital #9 signed an agreement for a 5-year, $2 million HOPE project to establish a Pediatric Burn Center that would serve all the USSR republics and provide training for health professionals. The project includes: renovating and equipping a wing of Children's Hospital #9 into a modern intermediate burn clinic; developing a program to train professionals in modern methods of children's burn care; providing fellowships for selected nurses and physicians to come to the U.S. for study; training for biomedical technicians in the repair and maintenance of specialized equipment; and creating a library of books and an audio-visual learning center.

In January 1989, one month after the devastating earthquake in Armenia, Project HOPE launched a 5-year project in cooperation with the Armenian Ministry of Health to strengthen child health services in the areas of physical rehabilitation and orthopedics. Under the program, Project HOPE provides for two full-time rehabilitation therapists and a rehabilitation nurse, in addition to sending occupational therapists and psychiatrists to Armenia as short-term consultants. The project includes: establishing rehabilitation clinics that provide medical service and training for physicians, nurses and therapists from throughout Armenia; and developing a curriculum through which doctors, nurses, and therapists will be certified by the Armenian Ministry of Health.

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