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Chapter 9 - Coordination and Organization of Medical Relief to Affected Areas

from Section 3 - Operational Considerations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2020

By
Kobi Peleg ,
Moran Bodas  and
Ian Norton
Edited by
Elhanan Bar-On ,
Kobi Peleg  and
Yitshak Kreiss
Elhanan Bar-On
Affiliation:
The Israel Center for Disaster Medicine and Humanitarian Response, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel
Kobi Peleg
Affiliation:
National Center for Trauma & Emergency Medicine Research, The Gertner Institute for Health Policy and Epidemiology and Tel-Aviv University, Disaster Medicine Department
Yitshak Kreiss
Affiliation:
Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel
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Summary

Providing humanitarian relief to affected populations is a top priority following a major sudden onset disaster (SOD). The main form of medical relief to affected areas is the emergency medical teams (EMTs). These are groups of health professionals and support staff operating locally or outside their country of origin by providing healthcare to disaster-affected populations. Despite best intentions, for decades EMTs were disorganized and followed no clear standards. In the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the EMT Working Group of the World Health Organization‘s global health cluster initiated a global effort to standardize the EMTs system. This new system was put to the test in 2013 with the deployment of medical aid to the Philippines following Typhon Haiyan, and later on during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and the earthquake in Nepal in 2015. This chapter reviews the history of medical aid to disaster affected areas, the process of coordinating and standardizing EMTs and the latest implementation of the new EMT coordination system.

Keywords

Emergency medical teams (EMTs)field hospitalsmedical aidhumanitarian aidcoordinationstandardization.
Type
Chapter
Information
Field Hospitals
A Comprehensive Guide to Preparation and Operation
 , pp. 68 - 79
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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