Local Staff

The aim of its projects is to transfer long-term project management to local healthcare authorities, as long as high-quality and free assistance are guaranteed. The organization has employed thousands of local staff in the countries they operate to cover both medical and non-medical positions. The organization provides both theoretical and practical training and considers this an integral part of its programs.^[4]

International branches

EMERGENCY has offices and affiliates in Belgium, Switzerland, the UK and the USA.

Afghanistan

The organization has been working in Afghanistan since 1999, where it has treated more than 8 million patients. EMERGENCY runs a Surgical Center for victims of war and landmines in Kabul, the capital. It runs a Surgical Center in Lashkar-Gah;^[5] the only free, specialized facility in the Helmand Province and in the remote areas, surrounding it with first aid posts. It operates two centers in the district of Anabah, Panjshir Valley: a medical-surgical center opened in 1999 and a maternity center opened in 2003. As with its other projects, it has established a network of First Aid Posts and Primary Health Clinics connected to the center.^[6][7]

Eritrea

Emergency began work in Eritrea in 2019, providing support for the cardiac clinics at the Orotta Medical Surgical National Referral Hospital in Asmara.^[8] The hospital is also linked to Emergency's Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery through a regional cardiac surgery referral program.

Italy

The organization 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), it has provided over 210,000 consultations. It 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 centers, and Roma camps; they are housed in converted buses, minivans and lorries.^[9] In 2020, during the Covid-19 crisis, Emergency assisted in building a field hospital in Bergamo.^[10]

The organization also plays a strong advocacy role in Italy, and its lobbying is considered to have influenced the Italian Parliament's decision to ban the production, sale, and use of landmines in 1997.^[11]

Iraq

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

In 2017, it 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 organization provided free medical assistance to casualties of war . As the acute phase of fighting ended, the hospital was handed back to be run by local authorities, having performed 1,749 surgical operations during its intervention, mainly for bullet and shell injuries.^[12][13]

Search and Rescue in the Mediterranean

In December 2022, EMERGENCY began maritime search and rescue (SAR) services in the Central Mediterranean with its ship Life Support. The ship operates between the Italian island of Lampedusa and the Libyan coast, providing aid and emergency medical assistance to migrants attempting to cross in unseaworthy vessels.^[14]

EMERGENCY previously provided medical aid, cultural mediation and post-rescue assistance onboard Migrant Offshore Aid Station’s (MOAS) ship Topaz Responder in 2016, and onboard Proactiva Open Arms’ ship Open Arms between 2019 and 2022.^[15]

Sierra Leone

Emergency runs a Surgical Center in Goderich, near the capital Freetown.

During the Ebola crisis, staff were trained in containing the spread of the disease at their established surgical and pediatric center in Goderich. With the virus spreading rapidly, they opened an intensive care unit for Ebola patients - the only facility of its kind in Sierra Leone. As hospitals were overwhelmed, their center was the only surgical and pediatric center to remain open in the entire country.^[16][17]

Sudan

The Salam Center for Cardiac Surgery in Khartoum serves over 50,000 patients every year.^[18] The 63-bed facility was designed by Studio TAMassociati^[19] and won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2013.^[20] The Salam Center was the first facility in the African Network of Medical Excellence, a collaborative initiative with African health ministries to develop a better, more sustainable health system that addresses regional needs.^[21]

The organization also runs a network of Pediatric Centers across the country: in Mayo, a suburb that evolved from a refugee camp on the outskirts of Khartoum, since December 2005,^[22] in Port Sudan since 2011,^[23] and in Nyala. Activities in Nyala were suspended in 2011 after the kidnapping of an EMERGENCY worker in Darfur,^[24] but resumed in 2020.^[25]

Uganda

The Children’s Surgical Hospital in Entebbe is the second facility in the African Network of Medical Excellence, offering free pediatric surgery to children across the region.^[21] When the 72-bed hospital was opened in 2021, it tripled the number of pediatric surgical beds available in Uganda.^[26] The hospital was designed pro bono by architect Renzo Piano.^[27]