PQMD Marks Twentieth Anniversary
Annapolis-based Nonprofit Celebrates Longstanding Commitment to Excellent in Medical Product, Device, and Service Donation Community
Annapolis, Md. – December 6, 2016 – The Partnership for Quality Medical Donations (PQMD) proudly announces twenty years since first forming in an effort to improve the quality of donated medical goods worldwide. For twenty years now, PQMD has combined their steadfast commitment to furthering the standards of donated medicines and medical devices with an ongoing commitment to educating members and nonmembers alike of the importance of serving at-risk population around the world. Since initially forming as a steering committee in 1996, membership has grown from 13 to 38, with ten organizations having retained membership since founding.
PQMD was born from a recognized need to increase the awareness and adherence to a set of formalized best-practices for medical donations. The group, founded on their collective agreement to commit to a set of guidelines and standards, first met as the Product Donations Steering Committee in response to the 1994 the World Health Organization (WHO) Action Programme on Essential Drugs.
The WHO programme, which initiated the development of international guidelines for drug donations, reflected a belief that the donation and delivery of medically inappropriate and expired medicines in the developing world justified the need for guidelines. However, the development of the original draft of these guidelines included no input from U.S. organizations, donor companies, or private voluntary organizations (PVOs) that deliver these medicines.
This evident gap was noticed, and addressed, by the formation of PQMD. These newly-drafted best-practices quickly evolved into what is known now as the PQMD Guidelines for Quality Medical Donations, which are examined, updated, and reissued each year as a testament to the pillar upon which the organization was built.
Since initial inception, the public-private partnership organization has evolved to focus their combined expertise on issues such as humanitarian assistance, disaster response, health system strengthening, and most recently, medical missions.
“Just as the landscape of humanitarian need and aid is ever-changing, so is our organization,” said Ms. Ashbourne. “It became evident early on that our combined resources were a force for good not just as it relates to donation guidelines, but to the landscape of global aid and development as a whole. We look forward to many more years of serving, advising, and educating the international donation community, and continuing to contribute to those most in need around the world.”
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PQMD is a dynamic alliance and global network between nonprofit and corporate organizations leading in the development and championing of guidelines on quality for the donation policies and practices; delivering of urgent care in disaster situations, and delivering life-saving products and service to at-risk and chronically under-served populations. The organization’s beginnings go back to 1996, when an informal alliance of several non-governmental organizations (NGOs), pharmaceutical companies, and medical device firms joined together to develop guidance regarding medical donations. To learn more, visit www.pqmd.org.
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