DUSHANBE, June 3, 2014, Asia-Plus -- On May 30, U.S. Ambassador to Tajikistan, Ms. Susan M. Elliott, handed over medicine worth more than $29 million to Tajikistan’s Republican Immunoprophylaxis Center and Republican Endocrinology Center.

According to the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe, the humanitarian aid was donated by American pharmaceutical companies and delivered by the U.S. State Department and Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere) to the people of Tajikistan.

Private U.S. companies and U.S. subsidiaries of international pharmaceutical companies, including Sanofi Pasteur, Merck, Eli Lilly, Hospira, GlaxoSmithKline, Alcon, Abbvie, Janssen, and Shire donated the medicine, and the U.S. Department of State provided transportation.  The donation, which included $5.4 million worth of insulin and $10.2 million worth of vaccines against tetanus and diphtheria, will be distributed to the people of Tajikistan free of charge.  Project HOPE, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, selected hospitals most in need of medical aid and coordinated the distribution of the supplies.

This delivery marks the 1000th U.S. State Department humanitarian airlift to the region.  Project HOPE is an international health care organization that has been active in Tajikistan since 2001 and has delivered more than $408 million in medicine and medical supplies to Tajikistan.  Since 1992, the American people have provided more than $1 billion in programs and humanitarian aid that support Tajikistan’s democratic institutions, health care, education, and economic growth.