Organization: VIDA (Volunteers for Inter-American Development Assistance)

All Photos Volunteers for Inter-American Development Assistance (VIDA) is a non-profit organization that is secular and non-political. Our mission is to provide medical relief and development assistance to health institutions aiding under-served communities in Latin America.

Focus Areas:	Disaster Relief, Education, Environment, Health
Countries Served:	All 12 countries: Bolivia Chile Cuba Ecuador Guatemala Honduras Haiti Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Peru El Salvador   Summary by region: Latin America & Caribbean

Description of Services:
VIDA improves the quality and availability of health care in under-served communities in Latin America and the Caribbean by providing medical supplies and promoting health education projects. We also help the San Francisco Bay Area recycling and re-use effort by diverting surplus medical supplies, medicines and used medical equipment from landfills and giving them to those in need.
History:
VIDA was founded in 1991 in Northern California as a response to the cholera epidemic that afflicted Peru. As a result of poor sanitary and inadequate health conditions, cholera rapidly spread to other countries in South America. After learning about the crisis, a group of concerned San Francisco Bay Area residents, both American and Latin American, collected $2 million worth of medical supplies which were promptly shipped to the affected regions. VIDA has since extended its efforts throughout the Americas: its health assistance has reached over 3 million people in hundreds of remote and economically depressed communities in Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Peru.
Accomplishments & Progress:
Since 1991 VIDA has been serving underprivileged communities in Latin America by providing them with medicines, medical supplies and equipment donated to us by San Francisco Bay Area hospitals, clinics and individuals. Through such donations we helped to provide care for over 3 million people in under-served communities throughout 12 Latin American and Caribbean countries. In partnership with other US-based humanitarian non-profits, to date we have shipped more than 290 ocean containers of medical relief worth over $210 million. Since 2001, we have shipped an average of 26 containers each year to countries in need.