Service delivery
During an emergency, delivering routine health care services while also delivering additional urgent needs can be extremely challenging. Effective health care relies on numerous components, including: functioning infrastructure; availability of trained staff; access to medicines and medical supplies; and working communications. Any or all of these can be compromised during a health-related event.
WHO Regional Office for Europe helps countries assess, plan and prepare for emergencies that can threaten the quality, safety and continuity of care across health facilities during a crisis. Table top and simulation exercises are routinely used to test preparedness and countries can then incorporate the lessons learnt from these exercises, as well as those learnt from real events, to strengthen capacity.
Key areas that need to be fully prepared for emergency response include:
Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs)
EMTs are groups of health professionals (doctors, nurses, paramedics etc.) who treat patients affected by an emergency or disaster. They come from governments, charities (NGOs), militaries and international organizations. They work to comply with the classification and minimum standards set by WHO and its partners, and come trained and self-sufficient so as not to burden the national system. The WHO European Region has a dozen WHO certified Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs) ready to deliver rapid health care when disaster strikes or an outbreak flares.
Read more about Emergency Medical Teams
Hospital resilience and safety
When a hospital is destroyed or damaged, dependent communities are left without even basic emergency care. Keeping a hospital safe from natural or human threats goes beyond the protection of the physical structure, and requires preservation of its entire infrastructure as well as a health workforce trained to keep facilities operational. Even in the event of a disaster, a safe hospital can remain accessible functioning at maximum capacity – serving the community when it is most needed.
Read more about hospital resilience and safety
Infection prevention and control
Infection prevention and control is a practical, evidence-based approach which prevents patients and health workers from being harmed by avoidable infections. Preventing health care-associated infections (HAIs) avoids unnecessary harm and sometimes death, saves money, and reduces the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Preventing HAIs has never been more important.
Read more about Infection prevention and control
Laboratory capacity
Establishing a network of laboratories operating according to international principles of quality and safety is key to effective emergency preparedness. The Better Labs for Better Health initiative seeks to provide sustainable improvements to the quality of all laboratories that deal with health.
Read more about laboratory capacity
Mass Casualty Incident Management (MCIM)
Human-induced and natural disasters can cause fatalities and devastating injuries among large numbers of people, and catastrophic losses to entire communities. When these tragic and traumatizing large-scale events occur, the expectations and demands on health care facilities for emergency medical care grow quickly in time and exponentially in scale – to save lives, treat injuries, reduce pain and suffering, and to lessen the fear of those involved.
WHO Regional Office for Europe has undertaken a multitude of MCIM-related capacity-building activities for Member States in the past two decades, including a comprehensive training package for pre-hospital and hospital emergency medical entities to respond to any incident that results in multiple casualties.
