Africa medical aid charity to mark 50 years

Volunteers sort needles by use-by dates to send to Africa

A Leicestershire charity is marking 50 years of sending much-needed medical supplies to Africa.

Inter Care, based in Syston, collects medical items that would otherwise go to waste, and matches them to the needs of health centres in Sub-Saharan Africa.

It has just sent its latest shipping container of supplies, donated by the NHS, medical and pharmaceutical companies, as well as the public, to southern Malawi.

Fundraising manager Claudia Domin said their charitable and environmental principles have remained the same since starting in 1974.

The charity supports about 100 health units across Sierra Leone, Ghana, Malawi and Tanzania

The charity relies on volunteers with a range of skills to help fundraise, source the medical donations, then sort and package them.

Last year alone, they provided up to 76,400 treatments and saved usable drugs and other medical supplies from going into landfill or being incinerated.

Ms Domin said: "Any medicines, any medical supplies, dressings, anything they need from Inter Care can be used free from charge and that's what it's all about.

"That's why we exist, and that's what we do it for."

The charity has survived for half a century off the generosity of its volunteers, who sometimes painstakingly sort through medical supplies, such as needles, to sort them for shipment.

Bill Johnson, warehouse assistant, packs crates of supplies to be shipped off to Africa

Bill Johnson has volunteered with Inter Care for years and is referred to as a "warehouse assistant", but takes on a range of duties at the charity.

He is in charge of packaging up every item that gets sent to Africa - from pills to wheelchairs.

He said packing the pallets is "like a jigsaw".

Last year alone, the charity sent 360,000 items to Africa.