• Marks golden anniversary with weekend of festivities attended by representatives from three presidential families, foreign ambassadors and diplomats and other luminaries
• HOPE sets sights on addressing three key global health challenges as it enters its next half century and celebrates five milestones from the last five decades.

NEW YORK (Business Wire EON/PRWEB ) November 14, 2008 -- Project HOPE, Health Opportunities for People Everywhere, held its 50^th Anniversary Weekend in New York City November 7-9 to commemorate 50 years of providing lifesaving health education and humanitarian assistance to people in need around the world.

On behalf of Project HOPE, I'd like to thank everyone who has supported the organization for the last 50 years and allowed us to help those in need of health care around the world

I look forward to working with the Board of Directors, the U.S. Navy, our partners, our volunteers and other supporters on another 50 years of providing sustainable solutions to the world's most critical health care challenges.

The 50^th Anniversary weekend festivities included a Friday evening tribute to founder William B. Walsh; a Saturday VIP tour of the United Nations building and luncheon with a keynote address by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent; and a Saturday evening 50^th Anniversary Gala, which was emceed by FOX News’ Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld and attended by representatives from three Presidential families – the Eisenhowers, Johnsons and Nixons – as well as ambassadors, diplomats and other luminaries. At the gala, Serviam Magazine awarded Project HOPE President and CEO John P. Howe, III, M.D. its “Person of the Year” award.

For the past 50 years, Project HOPE has been committed to achieving long-term sustainable advances in health care. The organization’s work includes: educating health professionals and community health workers; providing medicines and supplies; strengthening health facilities; fighting diseases, such as TB, HIV/AIDS and diabetes; and publishing, Health Affairs, a bi-monthly, peer-reviewed journal that the Washington Post called the “bible of health policy.” Over the course of its history, Project HOPE has delivered health education and humanitarian assistance in more than 100 countries, distributed nearly $2 billion in medicines, medical supplies and equipment, and trained more than 2 million health care workers.

“On behalf of Project HOPE, I’d like to thank everyone who has supported the organization for the last 50 years and allowed us to help those in need of health care around the world,” said Dr. Howe. “I look forward to working with the Board of Directors, the U.S. Navy, our partners, our volunteers and other supporters on another 50 years of providing sustainable solutions to the world’s most critical health care challenges.”

Sets the Course for the Next 50 Years:

As Project HOPE looks to the next fifty years, the organization will remain committed to achieving sustainable advances in health care around the world with a focus on the following three areas:

• Humanitarian Assistance – Project HOPE will continue to respond to disasters, conflicts and other crises abroad – wherever they occur – and provide medical assistance. In the past year alone, Project HOPE has responded to: earthquakes in Peru and China; Tajikistan’s harshest winter in 25 years; hurricanes in the Caribbean; and the aftermath of the conflict in Georgia. Project HOPE will also continue to conduct humanitarian missions with the U.S. Navy.
• Chronic Diseases – Project HOPE will continue to expand its successful HIV/AIDS education programs, its fight against diabetes with new programs, such as the India Diabetes Educator Project, and its treatment and education programs in cardiac illness, obesity, malaria, tuberculosis as well as other infectious diseases in Africa, Asia and elsewhere.
• Health Education and Training – Project HOPE will continue to address the desperate need for trained medical personal around the world with proven and sustainable health education and training programs. These programs will be targeted for both health professionals and community health workers, including midwives and health facility staff, with the aim of improving the quality, utilization, effectiveness and coverage of health services in needy areas for years to come.

Five Milestones from Five Decades of Service:

As Project HOPE looks back on its legacy of service from the past five decades, five programs and partnerships reflect the broad, far-reaching impact the organization has had on making health care available to people in need around the world.

• SS HOPE – In 1958, Project HOPE founder William B. Walsh, M.D. persuaded President Dwight Eisenhower to donate a U.S. Navy battleship to be refitted into the world’s first peacetime hospital ship, the SS HOPE. Staffed with teams of medical volunteers from the U.S., the SS HOPE sailed on 11 missions and brought health opportunities and humanitarian assistance to people in need around the world.
• Shanghai Children’s Medical Center – In 1987, Project HOPE began working with the Shanghai Municipal Government to develop a much-needed advanced care pediatric hospital. The facility opened its doors to children and their families in 1998. This year, the Shanghai Children’s Medical Center celebrated its 10^th anniversary and has become one of the country’s leading pediatric medical treatment facilities, treating more than 880,000 children and performing more than 2,600 pediatric heart surgeries annually. The hospital also serves as a national training center for health professionals to learn the most advanced techniques in pediatric medicine.
• Tuberculosis Programs – Since 1993, Project HOPE has worked to reduce needless deaths from TB. The organization now supports the largest, most comprehensive regional TB program in Central Asia and trains health professionals that, in turn, have diagnosed and treated tens of thousands of people with TB.
• HIV/AIDS Prevention, Care, Treatment and Support – In 1996, Project HOPE began addressing HIV/AIDS by incorporating HIV prevention education into reproductive health programs in Malawi. Since then, the HIV/AIDS program at Project HOPE has expanded into 14 countries worldwide and now provides a full spectrum of prevention, care, treatment and support. As a testament to the HIV/AIDS Health Professional Education Program’s efficacy, the program helped reduce mortality rates in one Chinese province by 72 percent.
• Partnership with the U.S. Navy – Since engaging with the U.S. Navy in 2005 to provide relief in the wake of the catastrophic Indian Ocean Tsunami, Project HOPE has participated in ten humanitarian assistance health education missions with more than 600 HOPE volunteers and treated nearly 300,000 people in 27 countries.

About Project HOPE

Founded in 1958, Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere) is dedicated to providing lasting solutions to health problems with the mission of helping people to help themselves. Identifiable to many by the SS HOPE, the world’s first peacetime hospital ship, Project HOPE now conducts land-based medical training and health education programs in more than 35 countries across five continents. For more information, please visit www.projecthope.org.

Note to editors: additional photos of Dr. Howe, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld, representatives from the presidential families, ambassadors and other VIPs, as well as photos of the Gala are available upon request.

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