The purpose of this website is to raise funding for shipment of surplus medical supplies to a community-based organization located in Uganda, called Earnesta Child & Youth Development Project (ECYDEP).

Taken from ashortgoodbye.com:

"[ECYDEP] is a community-based organization (CBO) established to support the orphans and vulnerable groups created by the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the Pallisa District.

Pallisa District is predominately rural, consisting of sustenance farmers growing food crops such as millet, rice, cassava, sorghum, sweet potatoes, groundnuts, beans, soybeans, bananas, cowpeas, simsim and maize. There are many vulnerable groups with no source of income whatsoever; they exist on the food that they grow and the help of family members. With recent fluctuations in the weather patterns, there is often a shortage of food for families causing poor health, disease, and death.

Young people in the Pallisa District are at particular risk of acquiring HIV/AIDS for several reasons. Firstly, there is a naïve belief that young girls are HIV free, or can rid HIV in an infected person thus increasing the level of abuse and risk of infection among young girls. Also, although almost all of the culture denounces premarital sex, at the time of marriage, young men are expected to be sexually experienced. Because of the limited knowledge about safe sexual practices and assertiveness, many young people are exposed and at risk of acquiring HIV.

ECYDEP’s objectives are as follows:

- To offer free voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) for the target communities.

- To improve as well as increase the information, education and communication (IEC) programs covering the district.

- To scale up home based care for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).

- Introduce income-generating activities (IGA’s) for PLWHA and households affected.

- Help develop a human rights culture and enact by-laws to protect PLWHA’s in the community."


ECYDEP is constantly in need of medical supplies to help support their mission, and being that the U.S. generates an estimated $200 million worth of unused medical supplies per year*, we figured some of this could be usefully redirected.

We are currently collecting unused surplus medical supplies at the University of Washington Medical Center with the goal of making periodic shipments to this organization in Uganda. Funding generated from this website will be used for the cost of shipping (upwards of $1000).

More information about the organization will be provided as it becomes available. Feel free to contact with questions.

* Recycling Unused Medical Supplies to Help Save Lives and the Planet. Fierce Healthcare, August 13, 2008 (accessed October 2, 2008). http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/press-releases/recycling-unused-medical-supplies-help-save-lives-and-planet