FOCUS

"We do not have to know the victims to understand the anguish of a man who has lost a wife, a mother who lost her sons, a child who has been orphaned or a family still searching for missing members, hoping against hope that they are safe. We all have our own families, and we know what our families mean to us."

- Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, 9 January 2005

It is internationally recognised that poverty is at the root of much of the under-developed world's problems and issues; amongst them vulnerability to natural or complex disasters. Through its disaster relief and sustainable development programmes, Mercy Relief aims to reduce suffering and empower poor and disadvantaged communities in Asia in order so they may gain greater control over their lives.

Mercy Relief takes into consideration the actual needs of local communities and programmes target these 5 highly inter-linked focus sectors:

Emergency Relief
Every year natural & complex disasters devastate countless lives. Mercy Relief stands ready to provide timely and effective relief aid to victims of disasters. Besides food & shelter, Mercy Relief also responds with vital emergency medical relief through the mobilizing of experienced volunteer medical personnel. Mercy Relief's programmes focus on the most vulnerable segments of society especially the poor, women, elderly, and children, and are designed and implemented to address long-term developmental needs.

Water & Sanitation
Improving access to adequate safe drinking water, providing sanitary disposal of excreta and inculcating sound hygiene behavior are of vital importance in the effort to reduce the burden of disease and poverty.

Sustainable Livelihoods
Building sustainable livelihoods can help reduce poverty. The Livelihoods Programme is necessary to ensure locals can make a sustained living and thus empower them to move out of poverty.

Education
Creating or enabling access to better education is often one of the most effective ways to combat chronic poverty. Improving educational infrastructure, building better and more effective educational resources, enabling children from extremely poor families to go back to schools or to continue education, and enhancing teachers' skills & knowledge are all possible areas for intervention.

Healthcare
The lack of access to decent healthcare poses a major obstacle to the effort to overcome poverty. Enhancing healthcare infrastructures & systems, reducing the burden of disease, strengthening skills & knowledge of healthcare workers, etc, can improve life expectancy and quality of life.

On 19 September 2003, Mercy Relief was officially launched as an independent charitable non-governmental humanitarian Organization by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Mercy Relief was conferred the Institution of a Public Character (IPC) status since 1 December 2003.