Australian graphic designing platform Canva, together with SafetyCulture, Airtasker, Airtree Ventures, and Blackbird Ventures, launches Aussie Tech for India – a joint philanthropic program to raise awareness and provide both financial and logistical support for the sourcing and purchasing of oxygen and other medical supplies in India.
The world is in the middle of a global crisis that has taken innumerable lives, while others still struggle to breathe. After the second wave, the situation worsened at an alarming rate, especially in India. While the country struggles with oxygen support, to do its part in saving the lives and families, Canva launched a collective initiative – The Aussie Tech for India in partnership with AnishSinha from the Medical Oxygen for All (MOfA) – a local organisation working towards raising funds and providing oxygen supplies to India and Param Singh from Mooofarm. The Aussie tech for India campaign has several Australian tech and investor companies with the mission of spreading awareness and providing financial and logistics support for the sourcing and delivering of oxygen support in India.
In less than 24 hours, the initiative pledged $400,000 for the crisis relief for Indian districts in dire need of oxygen support. The first batch consisting of 372 oxygen concentrators and BiPaPs reached India in the first week of May. While the second batch with 290 units is in transit.
“The evolving COVID-19 challenges in India aren’t about a global shortage of oxygen – the challenge is economical. The medical supplies are out there – immediate and decisive action is required to save lives,” said Canva’s co-founder and COO, Cliff Obrecht. “We have both a social and moral responsibility to do as much as we can to support our community in India.”
To raise awareness across the global community of users, the company has also launched a range of new-India-specific templates with information sourced from local government and the World Health Organisation to help and assist people with sharing accurate and timely information.
Talking about the initiative, Param Singh (Founder, MoooFarm) said, “I thank Canva founders Melanie and Cliff for their generous support to help India in these very difficult times. Both Melanie and Cliff live by the giving philosophy and it’s not the first time they have extended the helping hand for communities in need. I hope the world comes of the virus sooner”.