The Partnership for Quality Medical Donations (PQMD) has released a mapping tool designed to demonstrate the impact of its members’ medical donations.

The PQMD Mapping Tool, available online, shows the locations that member organisations, such as Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline, send donations to, and how they are used by recipients.

PQMD members donated $4.2 billion in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, supplies and equipment to health programs in 150 countries in 2007. The PQMD Donation Mapping Tool maps most, but not all, of these shipments in an effort to improve communication and planning.

Users can search for information on donations according to different criteria, including organisation and geographical location. The PQMD members-only site will also allow members to share information and identify new opportunities for collaboration.

Lori Warrens, executive director of PQMD, said, “PQMD and its members have been leading the way in advancing quality medical donation practices and addressing global health challenges in the developing world. With this tool, we can continue that progress by providing greater access to information about medical product donations.”

The PQMD Mapping Tool tracks donations to a variety of health programmes by PQMD members. It classifies them according to disease specific, humanitarian relief, or ongoing purposes.

The project was funded by a grant from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

PQMD works to raise medical donation standards through donation guidelines, education programmes, research and partnerships. PQMD is comprised of 27 member organisations including pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers and humanitarian organisations.