To collect medical supplies, such as equipment and instruments, still in a good state but no longer used by Swiss institutions, and then make them available to hospitals and health centres worldwide. This is the purpose of the Aid and Assistance Foundation of the Order of Malta’s Swiss Association. A long-standing mission which has helped to develop a productive cooperation between the Order of Malta and hospitals, health centres and graduate schools in the clinical, paramedical and pharmaceutical sectors.

The results are encouraging: in 2014 the Foundation obtained medical supplies from 32 hospitals and 239 social and health centres in Switzerland. Last year 91 containers with medical and sanitation supplies totalling 6000 cubic metres and weighing some 3000 tons were sent, with a 19% increase over the previous year.

The medical supplies are destined for European, African and Asian countries, including Portugal, Slovakia, Poland, Macedonia, Tanzania, Niger, Nepal and Cambodia, to name just a few. Following the war in Syria and the great exodus of refugees, the Aid and Assistance Foundation has cooperated with the Swiss Red Cross to send winter clothing and blankets to Bulgaria for the Syrian refugees. A project that has also continued in 2015.