Imagine that you are seriously hurt, maybe even dying. You want to call for help, but there is no emergency number in your area. Who do you call?
You need to get to a place where you can get care, but there is no one trained to transport you. Even if you reach a clinic or hospital, the facility may be overwhelmed, unprepared, and poorly stocked. You need care quickly or you could die — but how can the provider to find you in a crowd of patients?
In many parts of the world, you don’t have to imagine — this is the reality of emergency and critical care.
WHO & UCSF Taking Action
The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking to improve access to integrated emergency, critical and operative (ECO) care around the world and create life-saving systems, standards and tools that can be adapted and applied in any situation.
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) WHO Collaborating Centre for ECO Care is a part of this effort.
Emergencies occur everywhere, and each day they consume resources regardless of whether there are systems capable of achieving good outcomes.
Olive Kobusingye