Dakar – Senegal has develop into the primary nation in Africa to obtain World Well being Group (WHO) classification for growing the capability of its emergency medical group to have the ability to deploy and reply to well being crises all over the world, marking an historic milestone for the nation and considerably boosting the African Area’s emergency response capability.
The classification of Senegal’s Kind 2 Emergency Medical Crew (EMT) follows the worldwide EMT requirements. The nation’s EMT is now deployable inside 72 hours to autonomously present medical and surgical care to as much as 2500 sufferers impacted by well being emergencies for a four-week interval throughout the globe, follows a rigorous six-year course of. EMT2 Senegal is the forty ninth categorized group globally, with 130 others in course of all over the world.
“This certification is an actual turning level that displays the dedication of Senegal’s well being authorities to making sure a coordinated and speedy response to emergencies, each nationally and internationally, consolidating our place as a pacesetter in well being disaster administration in Africa and past,” mentioned Dr Ibrahima Sy, Senegal’s Minister of Well being and Social Motion, on the certification ceremony.
Since 2017, WHO within the African Area has offered intensive technical and monetary assist to the nation, working carefully with the Ministry of Well being and Social Motion, the Well being Emergency Operations Centre, and Senegal’s Armed Forces Well being Service. Throughout this time, Senegal has already deployed groups to answer well being crises within the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone and, most lately, Guinea. The current institution of the WHO Regional Emergency Hub has been instrumental in accelerating the finalization of certification strategy of the Senegal EMT.
“Congratulations to Senegal for this milestone achievement that contributes considerably to the area’s rising experience in addressing public well being emergencies,” mentioned Dr Matshidiso Moeti WHO Regional Director for Africa. “Emergency medical groups are a vital set of well being workforce that enormously enhances the capability of nationwide well being programs by way of speedy motion to save lots of lives in occasions of crises.”
EMTs can present routine outpatient care, handle emergency and trauma circumstances, handle mass casualty incidents, outbreaks as a result of infectious illnesses, and safely stabilize and refer sufferers for greater stage care. Along with scientific experience, EMT group members are educated to work in essentially the most difficult circumstances, establishing discipline hospitals which are absolutely self-contained, limiting calls for on native assets that will already be stretched in an emergency context.
The principle goal of the EMT classification, which is overseen by WHO’s EMT Secretariat, is to enhance the standard of care and professionalism of medical groups responding to disasters, conflicts, outbreaks and different emergencies. Populations profit from the speedy arrival of well-trained EMTs, who assist present medical workers.
The classification is a part of the broader imaginative and prescient encompassed in WHO’s Emergency Medical Groups 2030 technique. This envisions a world by which each nation can reply quickly and successfully to nationwide emergencies, leveraging regional and sub-regional capacities to assist susceptible communities and others in want.