Latest news with #medicalrelief
The National
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The National
Huda Kattan and Saint Levant donate $210,000 from Palestine-inspired lip oil to Gaza medical relief
Huda Kattan and Saint Levant have redirected all proceeds from their recent Huda Beauty product campaign to support emergency medical relief in Gaza. In a statement released on Friday, the two said the full amount raised, $210,000, will be donated to Doctors Without Borders (MSF) due to the worsening humanitarian situation and the need for life-saving aid on the ground. 'From the start of this partnership, we committed to donating 100 per cent of all sales from this collaboration to support the preservation of Palestinian agriculture,' they wrote. 'However, as the crisis in Gaza continues to worsen – with food and aid blocked – support on the ground has become even more crucial. 'As a result, we've made the decision to redirect the full amount of $210,00 to MSF (Doctors Without Borders) to support their life-saving medical work. 'At a time where we are witnessing genocide in Gaza, we are trying to find a way to make impact where we can. Please continue to use your platforms to spread awareness – you are making a difference.' Shift after backlash The pair recently launched a new shade of Huda Beauty 's Faux Filler Lip Oil and named it Kalamantina – a reference to Palestinian clementine oranges. A promotional photoshoot featured Kattan and Saint Levant posing in front of a car overflowing with the fruit. Pulitzer Prize-winning Palestinian writer Mosab Abu Toha publicly criticised the campaign's messaging, questioning the decision to use clementine oranges, while people in Gaza endure starvation and continued Israeli attacks. 'Do you really care about Gaza?' Abu Toha wrote in a widely shared Instagram comment, which has since been removed. 'My people are being killed while trying to get food.' While some fans praised the campaign for its cultural messaging and commitment to Palestine, others echoed Abu Toha's concerns. They called out the imagery as 'tone deaf'. The Kalamantina release, named after Saint Levant's single of the same name, was described by Kattan's brand Huda Beauty as a tribute 'for the homeland'. The announcement stated that a donation would be made to organisations supporting 'Palestinian agriculture and cultural preservation'. The brand did not, however, specify the amount or whether it would reflect a percentage of the product's proceeds. Friday's announcement marks a shift from cultural investment in the occupied West Bank to direct humanitarian response in Gaza. MSF has been active in the enclave throughout the Israel-Gaza war, operating under difficult conditions with limited supplies and damaged facilities. The pair's statement did not directly address Abu Toha's comments, which came as suffering in Gaza ' reaches new depths ', according to more than two dozen countries. At least 59,587 Palestinians have been killed and 143,498 wounded since the war began in October 2023. According to a report by Unicef in May, more than 50,000 children have been killed or injured in the enclave. Saint Levant (real name Marwan Abdelhamid) has Palestinian roots and has long been a vocal advocate for Palestine, including during a widely praised Coachella performance last year. Kattan donated $1 million to aid efforts in Gaza in 2023. Both reiterated the importance of public pressure. 'Please continue to use your platforms to spread awareness,' they wrote. 'You are making a difference.'
CBC
21-05-2025
- Health
- CBC
N.L. medical teams filling a 'desperate' need for women's health care in Uganda
Thousands of kilometres from their Newfoundland and Labrador clinics, a medical team spent a week delivering essential care to women and children in Uganda at the beginning of May. It was Team Broken Earth's first time in the country, but according to its chief operating officer, it won't be their last. "The need is desperate," Michelle Murphy said. "And I'm really looking forward to returning and doing more. We just really touched the surface in a week." Team Broken Earth was founded in Newfoundland and Labrador as a medical response to a 2010 earthquake that killed nearly a quarter of a million people in Haiti. Since then, teams from across Canada have been travelling to other countries to provide medical relief where it's not readily available. This time, they had help from a group of doctors with Clinic 215, a downtown St. John's clinic focusing on women's reproductive health. An immense need Dr. Kelly Monaghan — the owner of Clinic 215 — described the recent medical trip as a "profound experience" and says her team came back home feeling grateful. "I think we saw an immense need and we had started to do what we could to fill a little bit of that void," she said. Initially, the 10-member crew thought they would focus on intrauterine device insertions, working with Save the Young Mothers Uganda, an organization focused on teen mothers and women's health. But after seeing the medical needs of the community, the plan grew to encompass more than just contraception, says Monaghan. They provided maternity care, sepsis treatment, miscarriage management, hemorrhage management, vaginal repairs, and sexually transmitted infections and pelvic inflammatory disease treatment. Murphy says women in many parts of Uganda face medical inequities, like a lack of access to contraception, limited prenatal care, and a deeply rooted stigma surrounding reproductive health. "Women's health has been pretty low on the agenda globally," said Monaghan, who's long been an activist for women's rights and health care. "But in places like Uganda, you really see the frank catastrophes that come with the situation where women's lives are devalued or dehumanized." "We're under no illusions that that little trip has changed the life course of the women in Uganda. But if you do strengthen one woman, as I've realized at Clinic 215… that has a profound impact on their family and the trajectory of their lives and communities." Murphy, who's been with Team Broken Earth since 2013, says the organization started as a response to a single crisis, but has grown into "a movement powered by compassion." "This really brought me back to our grassroots," she said. "It was an eye opening week for sure. We learned lots from them as well." Murphy said when they travel, it's not just about providing short-term care. It's about education. "Working alongside of them, we did a lot of teaching," she said. "Which I think, you know, that's the sustainable model in any place you go. You want to teach them so that when we are away, they can still sustain their own communities." She says the communities they visit are grateful for the help. "They have very little. And they want to give you something of their very little to thank you," she said. The Newfoundland and Labrador chapter of Team Broken Earth, as well as Monaghan, will be in Guatemala in the fall. Both Monaghan and Murphy say they plan to return to Uganda next year.
