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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
 

 

EVENT:

On May 19, our UCSF Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/WHO Collaborating Centre for Emergency, Critical and Operative Care is co-sponsoring a free hybrid event with the American Heart Association and the World Federation of Societies of Anesthesiologists during the 2025 World Health Assembly. The event, titled “ECO Continuum: How ACAN is Driving Better Patient Outcomes,” will detail the work of WHO's Acute Care Action Network (ACAN), a conglomeration of non-state actors dedicated to helping countries strengthen and integrate ECO care within their health systems.

Come learn about how ministries are already doing this work using WHO tools and how UCSF, as a member of ACAN, will continue to support this work.

 

Details:

RSVP below for both in-person and virtual attendance.

  • Date & time: 7:30 - 9:00 a.m. CEST on Monday, May 19; 10:30 p.m. - 12:00 a.m. PDT on Sunday, May 18
  • In-person location: Impact Hub, 1 Rue Fendt 1201 Genève Switzerland
  • Virtual location: Hosted via Zoom.
  • Cost: FREE
  • Audience: All health care providers, including physicians, nurses, trainees, allied health professionals, students and administrative staff across all medical specialties and departments.

RSVP