How you can help India during its COVID-19 crisis

As a second, deadlier wave of COVID-19 infections sweeps India and overwhelms its fragile health care system, the world is reaching out to help in any way it can.

On Tuesday, India's official count of coronavirus cases surpassed 20 million, and the official death toll has surpassed 220,000 - but these figures are considered a severe undercount.

The frightening virus surge has left hospitals packed with patients as families desperately scramble to find ventilators, hospital beds, and supplies of oxygen for their loved ones. Their pleas echo across social media and internet message boards. Crematoriums are running near full capacity as people die waiting in line to get treatment.

But there's a ray of hope.

Help and lifesaving equipment is pouring in from people, governments, and organizations across the world, who are donating lifesaving medical equipment and other resources to those who desperately need it.

If you want to donate to help India, here are some ways:

Project HOPE, an international organization that aims to empower health care workers, is coordinating with government officials and local partners to get PPE, oxygen supplies, ICU equipment, ventilators, and other critical items to hospitals and clinics that need.

They are asking for donations to provide critical medical equipment to India and other parts of the world.

You can learn more about what they are doing on the ground here.

To contribute, click here.

The America India Foundation is asking for donations to help provide oxygen concentrators, ventilators, portable hospital beds, and cold-storage equipment to rural areas and states in need.

For more information on their response strategy, click here.

To donate, click here.

The Center For Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy is asking for help with its volunteer-led #OxygenForIndia campaign to ensure medical oxygen actually makes it to those who need it most, especially those who can't make it to a hospital.

For more information on #OxygenForIndia or donate, click here.

Sewa International, a Hindu faith-based organization based in Houston, Texas, has set up a 'Saving Bharath' fundraiser to purchase, acquire and ship oxygen concentrators and ventilators to hospitals across India. ('Bharath' is another name for India in some Indian languages).

To learn more about their efforts, click here.

To donate to the fundraiser, click here.

UNICEF, the UN's branch dedicated to aiding children, is focusing on supporting outreach programs and services for children during the crisis. It is also procuring and installing oxygen generation plants in hospitals and supplying accurate COVID-19 testing machines in areas with high case rates.

You can find more information on their efforts in India here.

You can donate here.

Vibha Inc., a California-based nonprofit that also focuses on providing resources to underprivileged children, is helping organizations and hospitals on the ground in India with money, oxygen concentrators, and PPE kits. They are also planning to set up vaccination clinics.

To learn more about their efforts and donate, click here.