Ignite PR and Engagement has won a major contract to promote a leading charity's Covid 19 Response Fund.
Virtual Doctors is based in the Sussex Innovation Centre at the University of Sussex in Falmer, Brighton. Using a smartphone app, volunteer NHS doctors in this country offer advice to around 140 isolated health centres in rural Zambia.
Now the charity is warning urgent help is needed to tackle the coronavirus outbreak in Zambia. And it has engaged Ignite PR and Engagement to manage the media nationally, regionally and locally for its current campaign. The charity’s board has pledged an initial £10,000 to kick start the fundraising.
Ignite's Bev Thompson said: "We are absolutely thrilled to be working with the Virtual Doctors charity. The work it does in 140 rural health centres in Zambia, and more recently in Malawi too, is absolutely amazing.
Using smartphone technology and the expertise of our NHS doctors, volunteering in their own time, the charity is able to help diagnose conditions, treat patients and prescribe medicine. This is all the more amazing when you consider the pressures the current Covid 19 crisis is already putting on our medics”.
The charity's telemedicine and e-learning can support social distancing by circulating knowledge remotely. This enables virtual decisions on how to treat patients, and reduces unnecessary referrals to distant and overworked hospitals.
Pete Lindsey from Ignite added: "Our aim in the coming weeks is to raise brand awareness of the incredible work they do, and this hopefully will lead to a boost in their fundraising efforts”.
Graham Precey, chairman of Virtual Doctors, said: "It's really good to have brought together Virtual Doctors and Ignite PR and Engagement to get more support for our campaign. The team at Ignite have a great reputation and we’re looking forward to working with them”.
You can make a donation now, and there's more information about the response fund on the Virtual Doctors website.
Cheques can also be sent, made payable to The Virtual Doctors, Sussex Innovation Centre, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9SB.
Suggested donations include:
£30 for an information pack about spreading the disease
£100 for equipment to help diagnose the illness
£110 for a water sanitation and hygiene pack for one month. This includes a foot operated wash basin, hand soap, surface disinfectant, continuous spray bottle, cleaning rags and ten reusable face masks.
You can spread the message and share on social media by using #cleanwaterforclinics.
About the Virtual Doctors The Virtual Doctors is a charity helping rural health workers in Africa to connect to doctors and medical specialists in the UK who respond with diagnosis and treatment advice, helping to save lives.
It provides sophisticated yet easy to use telemedicine software and state of the art technology. The charity has three clear aims: • help reduce unnecessary mortality and morbidity by allowing rural health workers to treat more patients on-site. • reduce unnecessary referrals to distant and hard-to-reach hospitals • improve skills and knowledge of rural health workers The Virtual Doctors relies 100 per cent on charitable donations to support its work.
Website: www.virtualdoctors.org Twitter: @VirtualDocProj Facebook: @TheVirtualDoctors