Merlin (charity)
Encyclopedia
Merlin is a British international health charity
, which sends medical experts to global emergencies.
. Its first mission was a convoy to Bosnia carrying £1 million worth of essential food and medicines. Since then Merlin has grown into a specialist charity aimed at responding to natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies, then staying on to rebuild the capacity of local health services. To date, Merlin has worked in over 40 countries and responded to some of the most serious humanitarian emergencies of recent history. These include the Asian tsunami, Darfur and the cyclone in Burma. This year Merlin has responded to the earthquake in Haiti and the flooding in Pakistan.
The Asian tsunami: Merlin arrived in Sri Lanka
less than 48 hours after the Tsunami disaster of December 2004, and was the first international health non-governemtal organisation to plan a co-ordinated relief effort with the local Ministry of Health. They also had teams on the ground in Indonesia
and Burma. By the end of 2007 Merlin had helped an estimated 287,000 households in Ampara
and Batticaloa
, Sri Lanka, by constructing and rehabilitating clinics and hospitals damaged by conflict and the tsunami.
Cyclone Nargis
: The Ayyarwaddy Delta area of Burma was devastated by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, leaving more than 130,000 people dead or missing and a million displaced. Since Merlin teams were already working in Burma before the cyclone, they were among the first to deliver a response to the diasaster, setting up first aid points in Laputta and treating at least 250 patients a day in the first week.
Haiti Earthquake: Merlin launched an emergency response within 48 hours of the earthquake and mobilised a specialised surgical and medical team to Delmas 33, a suburb of Port-au-Prince
. On an abandoned tennis court, Merlin established a fully functional, tented surgical hospital.In partnership with Medicos del Mundo (MDM Spain), Merlin is also operating a mobile clinic team in and around the rural areas of Petit Goave and Grand Goave, which are two hours from the capital of Port-au-Prince. The mobile clinic circuit includes seven villages, each of which are underserved with significant health needs. Merlin’s teams of doctors and nurses offer basic, maternal and neo-natal health care, while referring more severe cases to local hospitals for secondary treatment as needed
: Merlin was one of the first international humanitarian organisations to enter Baghdad just days after the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime in April 2003. Teams delivered emergency health kits and medical supplies to paediatric hospitals and health clinics throughout Baghdad, focusing on the most vulnerable groups such as women and children. Merlin also helped train and equip local health authorities to re-start their activities and rehabilitate their war-ravaged infrastructure. In many areas of Baghdad, water and sanitation systems had become very poorly maintained, with some areas regularly flooded by sewage. In response, Merlin implemented water and sanitation projects, that helped approximately 35,000 people in the Greater Baghdad area.
Sudan
: In 2004, when Merlin’s teams began setting up health services, most people made homeless by militia attacks had no opportunity to get medical care. Merlin now operates a network of clinics serving eight settlements which have been inundated by people fleeing the conflict. On average 134,000 are treated every six months.
Democratic Republic of Congo: Merlin has been working in DRC since 1997 when it provided emergency assistance to refugees in the east of the country. Since 2002, Merlin has been working with communities to rebuild over 100 health facilities, providing drugs and training local health staff, ensuring they have the medicines and the expertise to provide good quality health care. Merlin also supports several hospitals, including Kindu Hospital, the largest in Maniema Province, treating 2,000 patients every month.
Palestinian Territories
: Merlin has worked in the Palestinian Territories since 2002. It has implemented programmes in both Gaza and the West Bank, aiming to increase access to health care and improve rural health care, in particular. In 2007, Merlin began operating exclusively in Qalqilya and Salfit districts of the West Bank – the areas most isolated by the separation barrier. Following the violence in the Gaza Strip in December 2008/January 2009. Merlin has increased community access to primary and specialist medical services through mobile and fixed clinics, and improved the availability of safe blood supplies. It has also conducted home visits and health education to reduce disease through early diagnosis.
since 1998, running voluntary HIV
testing and counseling clinics in Turkana
for nomadic pastoralists, and a similar project which supports patients receiving anti-retroviral treatment in the Great Rift Valley
. Since many people with TB have also contracted HIV and vice versa, Merlin is working with the Kenyan government to encourage HIV-positive people and TB patients to be tested for both infections. In Nyanza
in the western highlands of Kenya, Merlin is training locals to provide home-based care for HIV-positive people. After the re-appearance of malaria
in Nyanza, Merlin is training community health workers to identify, to reduce and prevent malaria by raising awareness, by distributing bed nets and by spraying people’s homes with insecticide.
in Siberia. Merlin pioneered treatment methods, combining traditional systems with new home-based treatment, to combat the rise in the disease. The work was so successful that it was adopted by the Russian Ministry of Health as the nationwide flagship programme for TB treatment. Merlin also supported a hospital TB ward, and supported TB-infected prisoners with medical and social support before and after their release. At the close of programmes, TB incidences had fallen by 6% in Tomsk, whereas elsewhere in Russia they had risen by 10%.
Liberia
: Due to lack of qualified health workers, a dilapidated health infrastructure and insufficient government funds, Liberia’s health care system is only beginning to make the transition from an emergency to development phase. Since 1997, Merlin has been working with the Ministry of Health to renovate health facilities, supply medicines and equipment, and train and supervise health workers.
Afghanistan
: Merlin began working in Afghanistan in 1994, providing essential health services for vulnerable people in some of the most remote and hard to reach areas of the country. Reproductive health care in Afghanistan is particularly inadequate, resulting in some of the highest maternal and child mortality rates in the world. For a time only 14% of deliveries were attended by a trained midwife, and in isolated rural areas, women faced a one in three lifetime risk of dying during pregnancy or childbirth. Merlin opened a midwife training centre in Taloqan in the north-eastern province of Takhar in April 2006. Since then many students have graduated and are now providing essential maternal health care for more than 84,000 women.
(DEC), which coordinates fundraising appeals for major disasters overseas, Merlin also receives an allocation of the total amounts raised. A small but increasing percentage is voluntary income. This includes private grant-making trusts and foundations, companies and donations from members of the public. Individuals organise diverse fundraising events, as well as being sponsored to take part in various 'challenge events' such as:
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
, which sends medical experts to global emergencies.
History
Merlin was founded in 1993 by Dr Christopher Besse, Nicholas Mellor and Mark Dalton (a doctor, a manager and a logistician) who decided to create a specialist British charity to send medical teams into disaster zones and then to prevent disease and help develop local health servicesHealth care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
. Its first mission was a convoy to Bosnia carrying £1 million worth of essential food and medicines. Since then Merlin has grown into a specialist charity aimed at responding to natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies, then staying on to rebuild the capacity of local health services. To date, Merlin has worked in over 40 countries and responded to some of the most serious humanitarian emergencies of recent history. These include the Asian tsunami, Darfur and the cyclone in Burma. This year Merlin has responded to the earthquake in Haiti and the flooding in Pakistan.
Responses to natural disasters
The Bam earthquake: On 26 December, 2003, an earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter Scale struck the ancient city of Bam in Iran, killing more than 26,000 people and leaving 75,000 homeless. Merlin responded within 72 hours of the disaster, sending in a team to carry out health assessments and to distribute emergency medical supplies, hygiene packs, and essential water and sanitation items. Merlin stayed in Bam for more than a year following the disaster, and helped build or refurbish 32 medical houses and 11 health centres.The Asian tsunami: Merlin arrived in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
less than 48 hours after the Tsunami disaster of December 2004, and was the first international health non-governemtal organisation to plan a co-ordinated relief effort with the local Ministry of Health. They also had teams on the ground in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and Burma. By the end of 2007 Merlin had helped an estimated 287,000 households in Ampara
Ampara
Ampara is a remote city on the East Coast of Sri Lanka, about 360 km from the capital city of Colombo. It belongs to the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. It was a part of the domain of Kavantissa and was then known as "Ambaragama", which over the years changed to Ambara to Ampara...
and Batticaloa
Batticaloa
Batticaloa is a city in the Eastern province of Sri Lanka. It is the seat of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka. It is on the east coast, south by south east of Trincomalee, and is situated on an island.-Etymology:...
, Sri Lanka, by constructing and rehabilitating clinics and hospitals damaged by conflict and the tsunami.
Cyclone Nargis
Cyclone Nargis
Cyclone Nargis , was a strong tropical cyclone that caused the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of Burma. The cyclone made landfall in Burma on Friday, May 2, 2008, causing catastrophic destruction and at least 138,000 fatalities...
: The Ayyarwaddy Delta area of Burma was devastated by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, leaving more than 130,000 people dead or missing and a million displaced. Since Merlin teams were already working in Burma before the cyclone, they were among the first to deliver a response to the diasaster, setting up first aid points in Laputta and treating at least 250 patients a day in the first week.
Haiti Earthquake: Merlin launched an emergency response within 48 hours of the earthquake and mobilised a specialised surgical and medical team to Delmas 33, a suburb of Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince is the capital and largest city of the Caribbean nation of Haiti. The city's population was 704,776 as of the 2003 census, and was officially estimated to have reached 897,859 in 2009....
. On an abandoned tennis court, Merlin established a fully functional, tented surgical hospital.In partnership with Medicos del Mundo (MDM Spain), Merlin is also operating a mobile clinic team in and around the rural areas of Petit Goave and Grand Goave, which are two hours from the capital of Port-au-Prince. The mobile clinic circuit includes seven villages, each of which are underserved with significant health needs. Merlin’s teams of doctors and nurses offer basic, maternal and neo-natal health care, while referring more severe cases to local hospitals for secondary treatment as needed
Responses to conflict
IraqIraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
: Merlin was one of the first international humanitarian organisations to enter Baghdad just days after the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime in April 2003. Teams delivered emergency health kits and medical supplies to paediatric hospitals and health clinics throughout Baghdad, focusing on the most vulnerable groups such as women and children. Merlin also helped train and equip local health authorities to re-start their activities and rehabilitate their war-ravaged infrastructure. In many areas of Baghdad, water and sanitation systems had become very poorly maintained, with some areas regularly flooded by sewage. In response, Merlin implemented water and sanitation projects, that helped approximately 35,000 people in the Greater Baghdad area.
Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
: In 2004, when Merlin’s teams began setting up health services, most people made homeless by militia attacks had no opportunity to get medical care. Merlin now operates a network of clinics serving eight settlements which have been inundated by people fleeing the conflict. On average 134,000 are treated every six months.
Democratic Republic of Congo: Merlin has been working in DRC since 1997 when it provided emergency assistance to refugees in the east of the country. Since 2002, Merlin has been working with communities to rebuild over 100 health facilities, providing drugs and training local health staff, ensuring they have the medicines and the expertise to provide good quality health care. Merlin also supports several hospitals, including Kindu Hospital, the largest in Maniema Province, treating 2,000 patients every month.
Palestinian Territories
Palestinian territories
The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...
: Merlin has worked in the Palestinian Territories since 2002. It has implemented programmes in both Gaza and the West Bank, aiming to increase access to health care and improve rural health care, in particular. In 2007, Merlin began operating exclusively in Qalqilya and Salfit districts of the West Bank – the areas most isolated by the separation barrier. Following the violence in the Gaza Strip in December 2008/January 2009. Merlin has increased community access to primary and specialist medical services through mobile and fixed clinics, and improved the availability of safe blood supplies. It has also conducted home visits and health education to reduce disease through early diagnosis.
Responses to disease
Merlin has worked in KenyaKenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
since 1998, running voluntary HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
testing and counseling clinics in Turkana
Turkana
Turkana may refer to:* Turkana people of Kenya and Ethiopia* Turkana language of Kenya and Ethiopia* Lake Turkana in Kenya* Lake Turkana National Parks* Turkana District in Kenya* the fictional world of Turkana IV in a Star Trek Next Generation episode...
for nomadic pastoralists, and a similar project which supports patients receiving anti-retroviral treatment in the Great Rift Valley
Great Rift Valley
The Great Rift Valley is a name given in the late 19th century by British explorer John Walter Gregory to the continuous geographic trench, approximately in length, that runs from northern Syria in Southwest Asia to central Mozambique in South East Africa...
. Since many people with TB have also contracted HIV and vice versa, Merlin is working with the Kenyan government to encourage HIV-positive people and TB patients to be tested for both infections. In Nyanza
Nyanza
Nyanza may refer to:*Nyanza, Rwanda**Nyanza District, the district surrounding Nyanza, Rwanda*Nyanza Province, Kenya*Nyanza Lac, Burundi*Nyanza, the Bantu word for lake, in particular:**Lake Albert **Lake Edward...
in the western highlands of Kenya, Merlin is training locals to provide home-based care for HIV-positive people. After the re-appearance of malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
in Nyanza, Merlin is training community health workers to identify, to reduce and prevent malaria by raising awareness, by distributing bed nets and by spraying people’s homes with insecticide.
Responses to collapse of health systems
Following the collapse of communism in the Former Soviet Union, Russia experienced a 42% increase in cases of tuberculosis (TB). Merlin worked for over ten years TB patients at TomskTomsk
Tomsk is a city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Tom River. One of the oldest towns in Siberia, Tomsk celebrated its 400th anniversary in 2004...
in Siberia. Merlin pioneered treatment methods, combining traditional systems with new home-based treatment, to combat the rise in the disease. The work was so successful that it was adopted by the Russian Ministry of Health as the nationwide flagship programme for TB treatment. Merlin also supported a hospital TB ward, and supported TB-infected prisoners with medical and social support before and after their release. At the close of programmes, TB incidences had fallen by 6% in Tomsk, whereas elsewhere in Russia they had risen by 10%.
Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
: Due to lack of qualified health workers, a dilapidated health infrastructure and insufficient government funds, Liberia’s health care system is only beginning to make the transition from an emergency to development phase. Since 1997, Merlin has been working with the Ministry of Health to renovate health facilities, supply medicines and equipment, and train and supervise health workers.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
: Merlin began working in Afghanistan in 1994, providing essential health services for vulnerable people in some of the most remote and hard to reach areas of the country. Reproductive health care in Afghanistan is particularly inadequate, resulting in some of the highest maternal and child mortality rates in the world. For a time only 14% of deliveries were attended by a trained midwife, and in isolated rural areas, women faced a one in three lifetime risk of dying during pregnancy or childbirth. Merlin opened a midwife training centre in Taloqan in the north-eastern province of Takhar in April 2006. Since then many students have graduated and are now providing essential maternal health care for more than 84,000 women.
Hands Up for Health Workers Campaign
Hands Up for Health Workers is Merlin’s campaign to combat the global shortage of skilled health workers. Merlin campaigns for national governments and international donors to develop national health workforce plans to train, equip, pay and support health workers in crisis countries.Funding
The majority of funds comes from institutional donors, which include the UK's Department for International Development, the United States Agency for International Development and the European Commission. As a member of the Disasters Emergency CommitteeDisasters Emergency Committee
The Disasters Emergency Committee is an umbrella group comprising fourteen UK charities. These charities are all associated with disaster related issues such as providing clean water, humanitarian aid and medical care....
(DEC), which coordinates fundraising appeals for major disasters overseas, Merlin also receives an allocation of the total amounts raised. A small but increasing percentage is voluntary income. This includes private grant-making trusts and foundations, companies and donations from members of the public. Individuals organise diverse fundraising events, as well as being sponsored to take part in various 'challenge events' such as:
- The London MarathonLondon MarathonThe London Marathon is one of the biggest running events in the world, and one of the five top world marathons that make up the World Marathon Majors competition, which has a $1 million prize purse. It has been held each spring in London since 1981. The race is currently sponsored by Virgin Money,...
- The Welsh 3000sWelsh 3000sThis is a list of what are known as the Welsh 3000s, i.e. those 15 mountains in Wales which have a height of 3000 ft or more. Geographically they fall within three ranges, all sufficiently close to make it possible to reach all 15 summits within 24 hours, a challenge known as the Welsh 3000s...
- The London to Paris Bike Ride
- The Run to the BeatRun to the Beat- 2008 Race :Organisers expected more than 12,000 runners to take part in the inaugural race in the London borough of Greenwich on October 5, 2008. But bad weather on the day and tube delays saw just 7252 runners cross the startline. Of those 55% were female and 45% were male.- Event information...
Half Marathon - The Great South RunGreat South RunThe Bupa Great South Run is an annual 10 miles road running race which takes place in Portsmouth, United Kingdom. Launched in 1990, it is part of the Great Run series created by former British athlete Brendan Foster...
- Skydiving