The Association of Medical Doctors of Asia, a Japan-based nongovernmental organization, has concluded its medical assistance activities for this year in the typhoon-hit Philippines but pledged to return.
In the storm-ravaged city of Tacloban in Leyte province, AMDA President Shigeru Suganami said that continued aid is needed given poverty and hygiene issues, and so his organization plans to dispatch members next year to areas devastated by Typhoon Haiyan.
After the typhoon struck on Nov. 8, leaving some 8,000 people dead or missing, AMDA doctors from Japan as well as the group's branches throughout Southeast and South Asia entered the affected areas, including Leyte and Samar, to deploy aid.
The medical association of Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture, which has sister-city ties with Tacloban, also dispatched medical personnel who worked together with the AMDA.