Senegal becomes first African country to establish emergency medical team following WHO standards

Dakar – Senegal has turn out to be the first country in Africa to receive World Successfully being Organization (WHO) classification for establishing the skill of its emergency medical team to be in a field to deploy and retort to well being crises across the world, marking an historic milestone for the country and vastly boosting the African Procedure’s emergency response skill.

The classification of Senegal’s Variety 2 Emergency Medical Team (EMT) follows the world EMT standards. The country’s EMT is now deployable within 72 hours to autonomously provide medical and surgical care to up to 2500 sufferers impacted by well being emergencies for a four-week interval across the globe, follows a rigorous six-year course of. EMT2 Senegal is the Forty ninth classified team globally, with 130 others in course of across the world.

“This certification is a staunch turning level that shows the dedication of Senegal’s well being authorities to making sure a coordinated and instant response to emergencies, each and every nationally and internationally, consolidating our field as a pacesetter in well being disaster administration in Africa and beyond,” talked about Dr Ibrahima Sy, Senegal’s Minister of Successfully being and Social Motion, on the certification ceremony.

Since 2017, WHO in the African Procedure has equipped intensive technical and monetary reinforce to the country, working carefully with the Ministry of Successfully being and Social Motion, the Successfully being Emergency Operations Centre, and Senegal’s Armed Forces Successfully being Carrier. All over this time, Senegal has already deployed teams to retort to well being crises in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone and, most currently, Guinea. The contemporary establishment of the WHO Regional Emergency Hub has been instrumental in accelerating the finalization of certification course of of the Senegal EMT. 

“Congratulations to Senegal for this milestone success that contributes vastly to the sphere’s growing expertise in addressing public well being emergencies,” talked about Dr Matshidiso Moeti WHO Regional Director for Africa. “Emergency medical teams are a extremely important role of well being team of workers that vastly enhances the skill of national well being methods by plan of instant action to set aside lives in times of crises.”

EMTs can provide routine outpatient care, role up emergency and trauma circumstances, role up mass casualty incidents, outbreaks due to infectious diseases, and safely stabilize and refer sufferers for better level care. As well to medical expertise, EMT team people are educated to work in basically the most tough prerequisites, establishing field hospitals that are completely self-contained, limiting demands on local property that can even simply already be stretched in an emergency context.

The principle aim of the EMT classification, which is overseen by WHO’s EMT Secretariat, is to reinforce the usual of care and professionalism of medical teams responding to mess ups, conflicts, outbreaks and utterly different emergencies. Populations ranking pleasure from the instant arrival of well-educated EMTs, who reinforce existing medical workers.

The classification is fragment of the broader imaginative and prescient encompassed in WHO’s Emergency Medical Teams 2030 map. This envisions a world whereby every country can retort hasty and successfully to national emergencies, leveraging regional and sub-regional capacities to reinforce susceptible communities and others in need.