210 children of gaza

About the campaigner: 
Federación Española de Enfermedades Metabólicas Hereditarias (Spanish Federation of Metabolic Inherited Diseases) was created in 1990; our members are several local associations from Spain. We are part of European Society for Phenylketonuria and Allied Disorders and we represent interests of people with rare metabolic diseases. 

Who is the beneficiary of our campaign: 
Last year we got in touch, through local association ASFEMA, based in Madrid, with Palestinian association, Brilliant Future Association, that was desperately looking for international help for their members, mostly children afected with Phenylketonuria (PKU). Their association brings help to the 100% of patients suffering from this disease in Gaza. We contacted them for the first time in Abril through international organism, Palestine Children Relief Found. We could verify then the dramatic situation they were going through, and decided to collect funds to cover the most basic needs of 210 patients. 210 children of Gaza is then the name of our campaign. 

His Excellency, Mr. Musa Amer Odeh, Head of the Palestinian Diplomatic Mission to Spain, kindly accepted to give his honorific patronage to our 
Background: a desperate situation.

There are 210 children in Gaza that cannot consume meat, fish, milk and its derivatives, legumes, eggs nor flour, because their body does not process well the protein. One of the amino acids (phenilalanine) does not break properly, and it becomes a toxine and damages the organism. This disease is called Phenylketonuria (PKU). If untreated, PKU leads to severe brain damage and intellectual and physical disability. The only way of prevention is to stay on a very low protein diet for life and supply the protein that the patients still need with special formula milk, that does not contain the harmful amino acid. Without their formula, patient suffering from phenylketonuria do not develop correctly.

And here´s the point: until last summer, this medication was distributed among the 210 affected patients, but since one year, they haven´t received a can...  

The situation the families affected by the PKU is highly precarious and dramatic. What we know is that there is still a possibility of treatment; the problem is that to get the product, the families must now pay for it (it was reimbursed before). The access to the treatment is though still quite difficult, due to the costs. BFA calculates that the monthly expense ranges from 150 to 200 euro a month per person. In addition, we could know that this product is not sold in retail, which makes the treatment unaffordable for most of the families. The local association is then forced to acquire large quantities of the formula milk, and then redistribute it among their members. 

 Help us to provide them this very basic product! Imagine the pain you feel when you know there´s a treatment for the disease of youur beloved ones, but you cannot afford it! Join our project http://210ninosdegaza.org/en/ and DONATE. 

The amount we want to collect is just the very first step to paliate this dramatic situation: it will only cover one can per child. A monthly treatment is 6 times more expensive, but we believe that this campaign, launched both in Spanish and English, is only the first step to help the most vulnerable collective: patients -children - suffering from rare diseases. 
There is still a lot to do! If you want to help, just contact us and we help you to help. 

NOTE: THE TOTAL INCOME OF THIS COLLECTION WILL BE TRANSFERRED TO THE BRILLIANT FUTURE ASSOCIATION ACCOUNT MONTH AFTER MONTH. We might deduce taxes.