SOS International Inc

SOS SPREADS HEALTH & HOPE 

AROUND THE WORLD AND IN OUR OWN BACKYARD

Imagine a world where every infant, child and adult has the comfort of accessible healthcare and the promise of hope. 

This is the mission that propels SOS International, a health equity nonprofit based in Louisville, Kentucky. SOS accomplishes its mission in a very unique way-- by collecting surplus medical supplies that would otherwise go to landfills from over 100 regional hospitals and using them strategically to address gaps in healthcare access around the world and in our own backyard.

Our work is creative and collaborative and divided into international, local and education programs. Here is a snapshot of our mission:

The SOS International Program delivers over $4 million in medical aid to developing countries annually. Last year, we achieved dramatic results in Kumasi, Ghana, delivering a quarter of a million dollars in medical supplies and equipment that elevated a clinic to a full hospital with a labor & delivery ward and reducing maternal mortality rates by 24% in nine months! Shipments this summer delivered over a million dollars in life-changing medical supplies to Ukraine, Peru, Senegal, Tanzania and Zambia. 

The SOS Local Program supports more than 300 social service organizations and safety net clinics; over 30,000 low income and housing insecure individuals and more than 4,000 rescue animals every year. We recently introduced a new series of Free Pop-up Wheelchair Repair & Cleaning Clinics especially for unhoused and housing insecure members of the disability community.

The SOS Education Program supports hands-on allied health career training for over 35,000 high school and adult learners in Kentuckiana-- connecting students from marginalized communities with bright futures in healthcare AND creating a pipeline of future healthcare workers for our region. This year, we launched a fascinating pilot program that helped students from Madisonville North Hopkins High School create a medical clinic out of a shipping container that is on its way to save lives in Liberia!

And...SOS Disaster Relief Program provided more than $500,000 in needed medical supplies to those recovering from disasters at home and across the globe-- including the war in Ukraine, floods in Ghana and tornadoes in Eastern Kentucky.  

Since 1993, SOS has changed and saved over 14 million lives by creatively using more than 15 million lbs of surplus medical supplies diverted from landfills-- promoting the health of our planet along with the people and animals who live on it.