Emergency (organization)

EMERGENCY begins operations in a specific region or country based on two major factors: the need for specialized medical assistance from the local population, and the absence of similar humanitarian projects in that given country. Once a project is initiated, specialized international personnel construct and operate high-quality facilities, as well as first aid posts, and health centres for basic medical assistance. EMERGENCY also deals with endemic diseases such as polio and malaria and provides basic health care in these circumstances, as well as establishing social development projects, not only in war-torn areas, but also in high poverty regions. Since 2005, it has worked in Italy to provide healthcare to marginalised groups and communities. All of EMERGENCY's facilities are dedicated to training local staff so that they may eventually take over the running of operations from the NGO’s international personnel.

EMERGENCY builds and manages:

• Hospitals specifically dedicated to war victims and surgical emergencies;
• Physical and social rehabilitation centres;
• First aid centres for emergency treatment and to refer patients to surgical centres;
• Healthcare centres for primary medical assistance;
• Paediatric clinics;
• Maternity centres;
• Outpatient clinics and mobile clinics for migrants and people in need;
• Centres of medical excellence [7]

The aim of EMERGENCY’s humanitarian projects and missions is to transfer long-term project management to local healthcare authorities, as long as the two core aspects of EMERGENCY’s activities, high-quality and free assistance, are guaranteed. On the basis of this aim, EMERGENCY has employed thousands of local staff in the countries they operate to cover both medical and non-medical positions. The organisation provides both theoretical and practical training and EMERGENCY considers this an integral part of its programmes.[8]

Map of countries where EMERGENCY operates and has completed programs

EMERGENCY has been working in Afghanistan since 2000, when the organization began renovating and expanding a former nursery school in the center of the capital, Kabul, which had been destroyed by a rocket. In April 2001, this structure re-opened as a Surgical Center for victims of war and landmines. Since then, over 36,000 patients have been admitted to the facility.

EMERGENCY also runs a Surgical Center in Lashkar-Gah;[9] the only free, specialized facility in the Helmand Province and in the remote areas surrounding it with first aid posts, where wounded patients are stabilized before being transferred to the main hospital by ambulance.

EMERGENCY operates two centers in the district of Anabah, Panjshir Valley: a medical-surgical center opened in 1999 and a maternity center opened in 2003. Similarly to other projects, EMERGENCY has established a network of First Aid Posts and Primary Health Clinics connected to the center.[10]

EMERGENCY currently operates two projects in Central African Republic. The Bangui Pediatric Center was built in 2009 and provides free healthcare for children up to the age of 14, 24 hours a day. The center also organizes numerous outreach programmes, including health promotion for families and training for local medical staff.[11]

EMERGENCY has been working with migrants, refugees and disadvantaged individuals in Italy since 2005. Through a network of Outpatient clinics (located in Palermo, Polistena, Marghera, Castel Volturno, Naples), the NGO has provided over 210,000 consultations.

EMERGENCY also runs Mobile Clinics across Italy, which are intended to provide healthcare in places were access to public facilities is limited, including farming areas, refugee and migrant reception centres, and Roma camps. The Mobile Clinics are housed in converted buses, minivans and lorries that serve Apulia, Emilia Romagna, Sicilia, Campania, Basilicata and Calabria.[12]

EMERGENCY has been established in Iraq since 1995, primarily treating victims of landmines left over from the 1981-1988 conflict. The Sulaimaniya Rehabilitation and Social Integration Center provides physiotherapy, the fitting of prostheses for amputees, and vocational training courses.

In 2017, EMERGENCY reestablished operations at the surgical center in Erbil that it had handed over to local authorities in 2005. The decision was taken due to the hospital's proximity to the Battle for Mosul. Throughout the year, the organisation provided free medical assistance to casualties of war and underwent extensive renovations, increasing its original bed capacity. As the acute phase of fighting ended, the hospital was handed back to be run by local authorities. EMERGENCY performed 1,749 surgical operations during its intervention, mainly for bullet and shell injuries.[13]

In light of the ongoing refugee and internal migration crisis, EMERGENCY operates healthcare clinics in refugee and IDP camps in northern Iraq.[14]

EMERGENCY Hospital in Sierra Leone ⇒ playlist

Over the past 20 years, Sierra Leone has endured a bloody civil war, causing at least 75,000 deaths, and the Ebola crisis, which began in May 2014. In response to the Ebola crisis, EMERGENCY staff were trained in containing the spread of the disease at their established surgical and pediatric center in Goderich. With the virus spreading rapidly, EMERGENCY opened an intensive care unit for Ebola patients - the only facility of its kind in Sierra Leone. As hospitals were overwhelmed, the EMERGENCY center was the only surgical and pediatric center to remain open in the entire country.[15]

EMERGENCY’s largest project in Sudan is the Salam Center for Cardiac Surgery in the capital, Khartoum. In view of the high incidence of heart disease in African countries and the lack of adequate health care standards, the Salam Center offers specialized heart surgery, with the aim of its establishment as a regional center for cardiac surgery serving the people of Sudan and the nine bordering countries: Egypt, Libya, Chad, the Central African Republic, Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The organization also runs a free paediatric center within the Mayo Refugee camp, on the outskirts of Khartoum since December 2005, and in Port Sudan since 2011.[16]

In 2017, construction work began on the Centre of Excellence in Paediatric Surgery in Entebbe, on the banks of Lake Victoria, 35 kilometres from the Ugandan capital Kampala.[17]

The hospital will offer free treatment and be a referral for Ugandan patients as well as children from all over Africa in need of surgery. One of its main aims is to help reduce infant mortality in Uganda and neighbouring countries, as part of the African Network of Medical Excellence (ANME). The ANME was created in 2009 to develop free medical systems of excellent quality. The hospital in Entebbe will be the second project in the network, after the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery in Khartoum, Sudan.

'A Culture of Peace'

Volunteers, medical and non-medical staff contribute to promoting a culture of peace, solidarity, and awareness and respect of human rights.

Volunteers in Italy and abroad constitute a great part of EMERGENCY's work, organising a wide range of events for the fundraising that allows the organisation to operate in various countries.

International branches

EMERGENCY has affiliates in Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Switzerland, UK and the USA.

• Gino Strada, Pappagalli verdi - Cronache di un chirurgo di guerra, Feltrinelli, 1999, ISBN 88-07-17032-9
• Gino Strada, Buskashì - Viaggio dentro la guerra, Feltrinelli, 2002, ISBN 88-07-17069-8
• Giulietto Chiesa, Vauro, Afghanistan anno zero, Guerini e Associati, 2001, ISBN 88-8335-242-4
• Emergency, Medici di guerra - Inviati di pace, Guerini e Associati, 2002, ISBN 88-8335-319-6
• Vauro, Principessa di Baghdad, Guerini e Associati, 2003, ISBN 88-8335-432-X