Deliver life-saving medical equipment to Ukraine’s frontlines

As the war continues, what is really needed in Ukraine is medical equipment. In summer 2022, most of the needed items were close to sold out on the European market. Our medical procurement team started searching for international partners to support the critical needs on Ukraine’s frontline, and we built a partnership that is – in terms of its efficacy – in a class of its own. What do we do? We send containers containing life-saving medical equipment to Ukraine’s frontline hospitals.

Overview of the Ukraine initative

Project status: Active

Project duration: June 2022 - Today

Containers sent (to-date): 16

Value of goods to be sent: $5.9 million

Lives to be impacted: 35.200

How does it work?

  1. Aid Pioneers receives a donation that covers the cost of procuring and shipping a disaster relief container for Ukraine.

  2. Through our local partner United Help Ukraine, Aid Pioneers receives needs list from frontline hospitals and selects the contents of the 40ft disaster relief container.

  3. Project C.U.R.E. receives the Aid Pioneers needs lists and hand-packs the disaster relief container in the U.S.A. accordingly.

  4. Once packed, Flexport ships the container from the U.S.A. via sea freight through Germany and Austria to Ukraine.

  5. In Lviv, the large container is unpacked and the contents loaded into smaller, more agile transport vehicles of our partners United Help Ukraine.

  6. United Help Ukraine transports the medical goods to the frontline hospitals, based on daily reviewed needs assessments.

Smart questions, frequently asked

  • Before medical goods arrive at the hospitals, two needs assessments take place. The first needs assessment is submitted to Aid Pioneers and serves to determine the containers’ contents. Once the containers arrive in Lviv (Ukraine), our local partners check in with the hospitals again to receive an updated needs list. The 40ft container is unpacked in Lviv and its contents distributed to the different hospitals accordingly.

  • Our local partners have a list of hospitals that receive the most wounded from the war. These are hospitals that have the largest bed capacity and are in or in proximity of combat regions. These are hospitals that our partners have been working with previously and have established trusted relationships with.

  • Like Aid Pioneers, Project C.U.R.E. is an NGO and provides the containers at an at-cost basis. Most of the medical items have been donated, wherefore the handling fee that Aid Pioneers pays to Project C.U.R.E. covers the labour and storage cost that Project C.U.R.E. incurs.

  • We have decided to focus on stabilisation of patients in the first 5 days for two reasons. The first is medical: it is the most important window of care to stabilize patients. The second is logistical. Ukraine has a logistics issue in terms of transportation of the wounded. Those wounded can not be transported to secure hospitals with larger bed capacities which lie outside of combat zones before having been stabilized.

  • The full process of shipping one container takes roughly ten weeks, as it includes the full project cycle of needs assessment, packing list completion and container packing (3 weeks), transport U.S.A. - Germany (4 weeks), transport Germany via Austria to Lviv (3 weeks), Lviv to the front (2 weeks).

The initiative in numbers

  • $20 delivered for every $1 donated

    With medical supplies and shipping donated by our corporate partners, we only have have to cover the cost of handling. This means that for every $1 donated, we’re able to deliver $20 worth of supplies and equipment to healthcare workers on the front lines of the war.

  • 2.2K lives saved per container

    The medical goods sent serve to stabilize patients for the first five days after critical injury; their purpose is to literally save lives. Based on the container’s contents, our local partners estimate that one container can save 2.200 lives.

  • $400K worth of goods in one container

    The meticulously-selected items in the sent containers have a monetary value of up to 400.000$. The real value is much higher as many of these items cannot be easily procured on the European markets.

  • $20K needed to ship one container

    For around 20.000€, we can cover all involved costs of shipping a relief container containing medical equipment worth 400.000$ to the hospitals on Ukraine’s frontlines.

The chart shows the cumulative value of medical goods sent. Future values are projected according to the current shipment plan of the funded containers.

Value of Goods Sent

How can I help?

By donating to our Ukraine project you directly supports the healthcare workers at the frontline of the war.

We couldn’t do it without our partners

  • United Help Ukraine

    Founded after the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014, United Help Ukraine’s mission is to save lives of Ukrainians. UHU works swiftly and maintains close contact with Ukrainian hospitals.

  • Flexport

    Flexport is one of the world’s leading freight forwarders. Pioneering global trade by establishing a single digital platform for normally fragmented shipment processes!

  • Project C.U.R.E.

    Project C.U.R.E. is the world’s largest distributor of donated medical equipment. Based in the U.S.A., Project C.U.R.E. has warehouses full of critical equipment needed in case of mass casualty events.