Airmen bringing Hope to Moldova

[unhappycamper]

Airmen bringing Hope to Moldova
By Charlie Reed, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, January 13, 2008

A team of Air Force medical personnel is heading to Moldova on Sunday for the first phase of Operation Provide Hope — an annual humanitarian mission funded by the State Department and staffed by the military.

The operation ultimately will upgrade two hospitals in the former Soviet Union republic with $12 million-worth of surplus medical supplies from military installations around the world. The mission also includes outfitting several rural clinics with basic medical and dental packages.

“It’s probably hard to believe the state that these places are in. These are forgotten people,” said John B. Post, deputy director for humanitarian assistance at the Department of State’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.

Located between Romaina and Ukraine, Moldova, a small country about the size of Maryland, has a population of around 4.3 million, according to the CIA World Factbook. It is one of the poorest countries in Europe and was the first former Soviet state to elect a Communist as its president in 2001.

Post, who arrived in the capital city of Chisinau last week, is trying to coordinate the mission with other existing humanitarian efforts by the World Bank and European Commission.


Rest of athe article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51600



uhc comment: This is part of Operation Hearts And Minds.