Emergency (organization)

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Emergency
logo
legal form NGO - NGO
founding 1994
founder Gino Strada
Seat Milan , Italy
main emphasis Development cooperation in the health sector, medical aid
Action space Afghanistan , Iraq , Italy , Sierra Leone , Sudan , Uganda , Central African Republic
Website www.emergency.it
Gino Strada, 2010

Emergency is a humanitarian non-governmental organization that provides medical aid to civilian poverty and war victims.

It was founded in 1994 by the Milanese field surgeon Gino Strada . Emergency's hospitals, clinics and rehabilitation centers treated more than 10,000,000 patients free of charge by 2019.

The aid organization was awarded the Antonio Feltrinelli Prize in 2003, and Emergency has been an official partner of the UN Press and Information Department since 2006 . Its founder, Gino Strada, was awarded the Right Livelihood Award in 2015 for “creating excellent medical and surgical emergency aid for the victims of conflict and injustice and for his fearless commitment to the causes of war” .

Principles

Emergency was founded to provide free high quality medical and surgical care to victims of war, landmines, and poverty. The organization builds hospitals and clinics that are accessible to all. All Emergency facilities are designed, built and managed by an international specialized team. A special focus is the education and training of local staff.

Emergency promotes the culture of peace , solidarity and respect for human rights .

Calls

The aid organization strives to act independently, impartially and as neutrally as possible in order to make it possible to provide effective humanitarian aid in crisis regions. It is currently active in Afghanistan , Iraq , the Central African Republic , Sudan , Sierra Leone , Uganda and Italy . There Emergency builds and operates hospitals for war casualties and surgical emergencies, centers for the physical and social rehabilitation of landmine and other war victims, a maternity center, first aid facilities for the treatment of injuries and medical centers for basic medical care.

Emergency operations have been completed in Rwanda , Eritrea , Palestine , Algeria , Kosovo , Angola , Nicaragua , Sri Lanka , Cambodia and Libya .

Afghanistan

In 1999 Emergency converted a former barracks in the village of Anabah , in the Kashmir Valley , into a surgical center for war victims. In order to meet the needs of the population, trauma surgery was soon added.

In 2003 a pediatric and internal medicine department was opened inside the hospital. Soon after, a new maternity hospital was built near the main building. A prenatal program has been set up for women who live in the most remote villages. The center treats women and newborns in a part of the country that has one of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world. There is an outpatient prenatal aid program for women from the most remote villages.

In the spring of 2001, Emergency opened a second surgical center in Kabul , which has become the main traumatological center in the whole country. In 2003, an intensive care unit with 6 beds was opened, and the computer tomography system has been in operation since August 2005.

In September 2004 Emergency opened a third hospital in Laschkar Gah , the capital of the Helmand region . The Tiziano Terzani Hospital is the only institution that provides free and high quality medical assistance in a war zone.

In heavily mined areas where there are no sanitary facilities, Emergency maintains a network of more than 30 first aid posts and medical centers. These facilities are open 24/7. From there, urgent cases are taken to the nearest hospital in an ambulance after emergency treatment. Since 2001, Emergency has been running a medical care program for inmates in the country's largest prisons. Emergency has also implemented a project to support war widows.

Iraq

In 1995, Emergency reopened the hospital in Choman , a village in Kurdish Iraq on the border with Iran .

In 1996 and 1998 Surgical Centers Arbil and Sulaimaniyya were opened, offering free high quality medical care to war and mine victims. Soon afterwards, special departments for burns and spinal injuries were set up in both centers.

After the local staff was able to work completely independently and the Kurdish administration was able to financially maintain the structures, Emergency decided to hand over both centers and the twenty-two first aid posts to the local health ministry. The complete handover of the centers to the Kurdish health authorities was completed in May 2005. Over the past 9 years, both the Arbil and Sulaimaniyya centers and Emergency's EHP network have cared for more than 330,000 patients.

In 1998 Emergency opened a rehabilitation center in Sulaimaniyya : the "Teresa Sarti Rehab-Center". The center has a physiotherapy department and a workshop for the manufacture of prostheses and splints. It also promotes the social integration of former patients through training in skilled trades and financially supports the opening of shops and craft cooperatives. The rehabilitation center and the prosthesis manufacturing workshop continue to run under the management of Emergency.

Sudan

From spring 2004 to summer 2005, Emergency supported the hospitals of Mellit and Al-Fashir in northern Darfur . An operating theater block was set up with two operating theaters, a sterilization room and 20 beds. Emergency has opened a pediatric center in the vicinity of Khartoum , where around 2 million displaced people live in shelters without any basic services.

The center, which is located in the Mayo refugee camp , is the only structure that provides basic medical care to around 300,000 people free of charge. In addition to outpatient treatment, this center also has the option of admitting patients for a short period of treatment. It also has an ambulance to move more severe cases to the city hospitals. Since spring 2006 there has been a service for follow-up treatment at home and for hygiene and health-related education. Two local employees, trained by Emergency's international staff, take care of it. At the Mayo Pediatric Center, pregnant women are also given medical care and children up to 5 years of age are treated as part of an immunization program.

In April 2007 Emergency opened the Salam Cardiac Surgery Center in Soba , a village on the Blue Nile 20 km from Khartoum . The Salam Center (in Arabic peace) is the first completely free specialist facility on the African continent that cares for patients from more than 16 countries. It is a high-tech center built using innovative and environmentally friendly technologies.

Sierra Leone

At the end of 2000, Emergency started a project in Goderich , near Freetown , which was initially only intended for war victims. An abandoned clinic was renovated and new buildings were added to the surgery block to turn the hospital into a high-quality center. Accident victims, polio patients and patients with orthopedic problems are treated here. Over time, the inclusion criteria have been extended to include all urgent surgery.

In the spring of 2002 a pediatric center was inaugurated to cope with the increasing number of small patients. In 2003, Emergency received another piece of land from the government. Two more hospital wards were built. On one of these wards, children with malaria , anemia , respiratory and intestinal diseases are treated as inpatients.

From 2005, a program against malnutrition will be introduced in the pediatric center, which, in addition to childcare, always provides for the participation of mothers in hygiene and nutrition courses. In the same area, from June 2008, Emergency developed, in collaboration with the University of Parma, a high-calorie hyperprotein food for malnourished children that can only be easily prepared from local ingredients. Unfortunately, children often consume caustic soda when soap is homemade there, which is why Emergency led a program for endoscopic expansion of the esophagus in 2006.

A program against malnutrition has been running in the children's clinic since 2005, which, in addition to child nutrition, also includes the involvement of mothers in hygiene and nutrition courses. Currently, the Surgical Center and Pediatric Center are the only facilities in Sierra Leone that offer free medical care and train surgeons and anesthetists in a country still suffering from the aftermath of a long and serious conflict Has.

In 2014, Emergency also opened a rescue center in the event of the Ebola outbreak .

Central African Republic

Since May 2007 Emergency has also launched a regional pediatric project to set up specialist centers in the neighboring countries of Sudan. These centers will not only offer free basic pediatric care, but will also monitor and accompany patients with heart disease who are to be operated on at the Salam center. Construction of the first pediatric center began in 2008 in Bangui , the capital of the Central African Republic .

The Pediatric Center in Bangui treats around 20 women and 80 children (and newborns) every day, it offers a prenatal assistance program and monitors the training and further education of Central African staff.

Italy

Since 2006, Emergency has opened three poly-ambulances in Palermo , Venice and Calabria ( Italy ) with the aim of supplementing the national basic medical care for migrants (with or without a residence permit) and making it more efficient. The following services are offered: pediatrics , dermatology , dentistry , ophthalmology , ENT treatment , obstetrics , gynecology , cardiology , psychiatry and psychology .

The poly-outpatient clinic is a free health center that is particularly intended for migrants, but is also accessible to an increasing number of Italians in need. Because of the economic crisis, more and more people in Italy are experiencing constant human rights violations.

Funding sources

Emergency was founded as a non-profit association in Italy in 1994 to provide aid to war and mine victims in the form of medical treatment and rehabilitation. A voluntary balance sheet was published during the first four years of foundation. Since 1998, due to the recognition of the non-profit status, the annual balance sheet has been drawn up in accordance with the state's statutory regulations. Since August 19, 1999, Emergency has been a non-governmental organization officially recognized by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs .

Emergency funds are largely personal donations from numerous individuals.

Sections

Emergency volunteers now operate in the UK , Belgium, Austria, Germany , Hong Kong and the US . Emergency is also present in Great Britain , Japan , Austria , Switzerland and Belgium as a non-profit organization.

Volunteering

The volunteering plays a very important role in the success of emergency. There are around 5000 volunteers in Italy, divided into 200 groups and 22 local speakers. They play an essential role in influencing public opinion. They contribute significantly to spreading a culture of coexistence through lectures and are active in collecting money with the help of advertising festivals, among other things

Literature in German

Movie

German newspapers

Web links

Commons : Emergency  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Emergency: Who we are / History. Retrieved January 21, 2015 .
  2. ↑ SPEGELONLINE: "Alternative Nobel Prize" 2015: surgeon and war opponent Gino Strada awarded. The Italian doctor and war opponent Gino Strada saved countless lives in armed conflicts. His organization EMERGENCY operates over 60 hospitals, clinics and first aid stations worldwide.
  3. ↑ Emergency: Who we are / How we operate. Retrieved January 21, 2015 .
  4. ^ Emergency NGO principles
  5. ↑ Emergency: What we do / Completed programs. Retrieved January 21, 2015 .
  6. ^ Emergency: What we do / Afghanistan. Retrieved January 21, 2015 .
  7. ^ Emergency: What we do / Iraq. Retrieved January 21, 2015 .
  8. ↑ Emergency: What we do / ANME. Retrieved January 21, 2015 .
  9. ^ Emergency: What we do / Sudan. Retrieved January 21, 2015 .
  10. ^ Emergency: What we do / Sierra Leone. Retrieved January 21, 2015 .
  11. ↑ Ebola case in Italy: Doctor is treated in Rome after infection. November 25, 2015, accessed January 21, 2015 .
  12. ↑ Sarah Boseley: Untested Ebola drug given to patients in Sierra Leone causes walkout UK. The Guardian, December 22, 2014, accessed January 21, 2015 .
  13. ^ Emergency: What we do / Italy. Retrieved January 21, 2015 .
  14. ↑ Emergency: Bilancio al 31 December 2013. (PDF) Retrieved on January 21, 2015 (Italian).
  15. ^ Emergency USA
  16. ^ Emergency UK
  17. ^ Emergency Hong Kong
  18. ↑ Emergency CH