Executive Summary
Every year, medical emergencies account for 28 million deaths—half the world’s mortality. In Africa, emergencies annually contribute to 262 years of life lost per 1,000 persons—twice the global rate of 129 years lost per person. Few patients have access to the life-saving treatments for time-sensitive medical conditions that emergency departments (EDs) and emergency medical systems (EMS) effectively provide in developed countries.
Utilizing existing ED infrastructure, our project initially builds EDs and EMS across three countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (Ghana, Ethiopia, and Tanzania). We partner with hospital and governmental leaders to replicate proven training programs we launched in Ghana in 2009. We integrate these programs with remedial business best practices, digital information systems, pre-hospital transport, and community-based primary care.
Emergency-related deaths and disabilities will fall. The number of people who receive care will rise while per patient costs plummet. We will enhance preparedness for large-scale emergencies and make emergency care more accessible and financially inclusive.
Charity, fund, non-governmental organization, religious institution, school, or other entity
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Accomplishments
From the pandemic’s start, the Ghana Emergency Medical Collaborative trained frontline emergency medical workforce has played a central role in Ghana’s response while sustaining the health system’s broad scope of emergency care, including pre-hospital and community-facing work. Our emergency physician and nurse graduates are leading national systems and coordinating pandemic responses nationwide through Ghana’s Ministry of Health (MoH). They advised the MoH on how to respond to a new surge and are planning for vaccine distribution.
Since our application in 2019, we have admitted two new cohorts of physicians and nurses for training, and we have graduated two new cohorts. This includes our second batch of fellows, who now can start new training sites. Our graduates also have worked closely with the World Health Organization to coordinate the training of emergency care personnel in other African countries. The adoption of digital financial services economywide has accelerated our efforts to digitize hospitals’ paper records and out-of-pocket payments.
