PPE4Gaza Update: Face shields delivered, production lines set up, and West Bank-Gaza solidarity
Lots has happened in the five months since we asked for your help to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers in Gaza. Our crowdfunding campaign raised $118,425 (CAD) thanks to the support of numerous people like you who donated and spread the word. A lot of thanks and gratitude is due to the thousands of people who participated in that first phase!
The situation in Gaza
Gaza’s second wave began in the beginning of March, 2021. As observed in most other places, the second wave appears to be worse than the first, although one difference during the second wave is that deaths seem to be lagging behind reported cases.
For the second week in a row, cases have doubled. According to the WHO’s latest situation report (via MondoWeiss), “as of 1 April, the overall occupancy rate of COVID-19 dedicated hospital beds in the Gaza Strip is 38%, with 203 of 540 beds occupied. Currently, 34 of the 90 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds (38%) are occupied, with eight requiring invasive mechanical ventilation.” Since this report, the situation has unfortunately deteriorated.
Face shield production and distribution
3D printing allowed us to distribute face shields almost immediately, with several thousand units being printed and distributed while we worked on modifying the design for injection molding.
As well, Glia Gaza, Islamic Relief Canada and Islamic Relief Palestine were involved in discussions with the Ministry of Health to ensure that we were producing useful devices that would actually be used, rather than face shields that would sit in storage. As we anticipated, 3D printing allowed us to bridge the gap in tooling up and testing an injection-molded production line.
As of today, 5 000 face shields were distributed in Gaza, 5 000 were exported to the West Bank. Of these, the first 3 000 were made through 3D printing, and the remainder are injection-molded. Another 9 000 units are in production with an expected ship date in the next 3 weeks.
Logistics of respirators has been hard
As of today, zero N95 respirators have been delivered to the Ministry of Health. The project’s plan was to ship to Gaza 232 N95 reusable respirators while developing a Gaza-manufactured alternative. Updates on the components of this project follow.
3M N95 Respirators are awaiting shipment
We purchased a total of 250 reusable respirators of various sizes manufactured by 3M, as well as the required filters. Over one year, these would conservatively replace well over 7,500 disposable masks and provide excellent care to health care providers.
We partnered with Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) UK to ship these respirators to Gaza via MAP’s warehouse in the UK. As of today, all Israeli permissions are in place and respirators are packaged and ready to ship. Shipping to the UK is scheduled for next week, then onto Israel. Shipping is by air and won’t take long. However, it may take 4 more weeks to arrive in Gaza when accounting for problems with Israeli customs.
Local production of reusable respirators is on the back burner
It has proved impossible to import sufficient quantities of silicone raw material to make local production possible. As such, we’ve put this effort on the back burner for now with the goal of developing the production capacity there, but dealing with more urgent needs first.
West Bank - Gaza Solidarity
Gaza needs PPE. However, the worsening situation in the West Bank and discussions with the Ministry of Health offices there led to the decision to divert half of all face shields produced until now to the West Bank. This was an important gesture of solidarity with health care workers in the West Bank, and an embodiment of Glia’s commitment to equal care. This week, 5 000 face shields produced in Gaza were delivered to the Ministry of Health in the West Bank.
PPE4GAZA heroes
Numerous people made this project possible in Gaza, the West Bank, Canada, the UK and around the world. Their herculean fundraising, logistical, administrative and political efforts are a testament to how much this project touched all of our imaginations. Thank you to Islamic Relief Canada, Islamic Relief Palestine, Medical Aid for Palestinians UK, and Glia Gaza. A special thank you also goes to all of you who made this project possible!
Free/Open Source for the win
As always, all of Glia’s work is open source. If you would like to examine, modify or distribute any of our work, you can find it at our github repository ([3D-printed] [injection-molded]).
