Global Links

Specialties

Global Links is a medical relief and development organization dedicated to improving health in resource-​poor communities, primarily in the Western Hemisphere. Global Links collaborates with U.S. healthcare institutions and the community to recover hundreds of tons of high-​quality surplus medical materials every year that would otherwise be sent to landfills. These materials are shared with public health institutions that are providing care for their country’s most vulnerable people.

History

Established in 1989.

Global Links is a Pittsburgh-​based international medical relief and development organization with a mission that is both environmental and humanitarian. The three women who founded Global Links in 1989 broke from the traditional model of soliciting manufacturer’s surplus and instead concentrated on addressing the growing environmental burden caused by surplus in the healthcare industry, and how recovering and sharing that surplus could save lives.

Global Links is distinctive in its approach to fulfilling its core mission by partnering with public health authorities and concentrating on strengthening regional healthcare systems in resource-​poor countries. Because donations are carefully planned in consultation with receiving institutions, materials can be put to use immediately, without creating the burden of disposing of unwanted materials.