7 Leading Charities That are Devoted to Healthcare
The progress in the field of medical science has ensured that several formidable diseases are wiped out completely from the face of the earth. For the other forms of ailments that cannot be completely cured, there are researchers working relentlessly to ensure that these diseases can be controlled to a certain extent. For instance, most forms of cancer can be treated if they are diagnosed in the early stages. However, another obstacle people face is that these treatment methods are too expensive for the regular person. The condition worsens when you consider third-world countries where the general population is deprived of even the basic necessities of life, and medications and other healthcare amenities feel like a far-fetched dream.
People in some of the poverty-ridden countries still fall prey to otherwise-curable diseases and end up losing their lives to it. These countries are in dire need of monetary and other forms of help that the developed countries can send their way. This is where charities step in; affluent figures from the developed countries and even the citizens of these countries play a proactive role in ensuring that their counterparts in the third-world countries can lead a life with dignity that every other human being is entitled to live. There are several charitable organizations across the country that offer monetary help to such countries or people who cannot afford the basic needs of life, whereas there are others that fund research and other healthcare programs for people who cannot afford them.
Here are some of the most popular charities that have been successfully helping people with limited means in the country and in other countries obtain the necessary healthcare amenities.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The world knows Bill Gates as the founder of Microsoft, but this billionaire is a popular humanitarian as well. In fact, this billionaire is the founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is one of the wealthiest charitable foundations in the world. This foundation functions on the belief that “every life has equal value” and works to save people from succumbing to hunger and poverty. The major area of focus of this foundation’s Global Health Program is to fight and prevent diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Moreover, this foundation aims to protect and improve the health of mothers and children and implements family planning solutions in local communities.
AmeriCares
This charitable organization became increasingly popular due to its initiative to come to the aid of different countries during emergencies. AmeriCares is known to provide emergency medicines, treatments, and medical supplies to areas across the world that are struck by disasters. In fact, this charitable organization is known to donate over 98 percent of its entire earnings to support and relief programs.
The Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust is the largest medical research charity in the world that is completely dedicated to achieving landmark breakthroughs in human and animal health. The annual endowment of this charitable organization is approximately around $22 billion, and it is used to deal with five major health challenges: understanding the brain, genetics and genomics, combating infectious diseases, investigating chronic diseases, and finding the correlation between the environment and nutrition and health.
American Cancer Society
Founded by 10 physicians and 5 businessmen, the American Cancer Society is a nationwide voluntary health organization that is committed to eliminating cancer. Their major activities include providing grants to researchers and running public health advertising campaigns that organize projects to create awareness about cancer. This society’s funds are used to provide patient support, for researching, prevention, detection, and treatment. Also, it conducts several supporting services like fundraising and awareness drives.
UNICEF
The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund was established by the United Nations to provide food and shelter to the children who were affected by World War II. Soon, the UNICEF expanded its mission and became one of the leading charities that promoted children’s rights. The UNICEF works relentlessly to offer help to countries where children live in subhuman conditions and provide them with the essential healthcare facilities to eradicate diseases like malaria, which is otherwise easily curable.
Pediatric Cancer Foundation
Cancer is known to affect people irrespective of their age and sex. Cancer among children is quite rampant and the treatment for the same is quite expensive. The Pediatric Cancer Foundation raises money to fund pediatric cancer research, which contributes to finding treatment methods for curing cancer. The Sunshine Project, one of the programs started by Pediatric Cancer Foundation, is an innovative collaboration of the top doctors and researchers in the country with the aim to fast-track new treatments and give a much-needed impetus to the survival rate of children battling cancer.
FSH Society
The FSH Society is the largest charitable foundation that is the most progressive grass-roots network of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), which is a genetic muscle disorder known to affect the muscles of the face, shoulder blades, and upper arms. The society aims to educate and empower those who suffer from this condition and conducts research to find a complete cure for this condition.