TPRF Helps Bring Medical Relief to Libya

Funds to have immediate, lifesaving impact

LOS ANGELES, March 22, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Amid the massive disorder that has rocked the African nation of Libya since mid-February, The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) has made a grant of US$25,000 to help International Relief & Development (IRD) to distribute urgently needed medical relief in Libya and along the Tunisian border.

"Thousands of people in Libya are being affected by the ongoing violence, some who are chronically ill and are unable to get their medications and others who have been wounded or had to flee their homes," said Linda Pascotto, President of TPRF. "The aim of this grant is to get immediate aid to those in desperate need of lifesaving care."

Officials representing the United Nations Refugee Agency estimate that more than 300,000 people have fled their homes to border cities and neighboring nations to avoid the hostilities. IRD's efforts are directed at the many who require hospitalization or regular medication. "For those displaced by the violence," said Daniel Puls, IRD Chief of Advancement, "the needs are urgent."

TPRF's contribution, Mr. Puls said, is very important to IRD's overall program. "Funding provided by TPRF," he said, "covers the costs of reaching approximately 12,500 of an estimated 50,000 beneficiaries for whom our immediate goal is to procure and distribute urgently needed pharmaceuticals and crucial medical supplies."

Mr. Puls said organizations assisting IRD on the ground now include the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO), the Libyan Red Crescent, Islamic Relief, LDS Humanitarian Service, and the Health Committee of the Benghazi Majlis al-Baladi.

Delivery of trauma medicines to the injured along the border of Libya and Tunisia is underway and preparations for larger-scale operations are in the works to deliver medicines and medical supplies from Europe to hospitals in Tripoli and Benghazi and along the Egyptian border.

About The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF)

The Prem Rawat Foundation promotes Prem Rawat's message of peace and his vision of addressing fundamental human needs so that people everywhere can live with dignity, peace, and prosperity. For more information, visit: www.tprf.org

SOURCE The Prem Rawat Foundation