The world-wide health and disaster response community agree: management of the Haiti earthquake, Indian Ocean tsunami, and West Africa Ebola epidemic was poor. In answer, the World Health Organization has established new standards for international Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs) to ensure a credible global health emergency workforce for future Public Health Emergencies of International Concern. So far, neither the US government nor large-capacity US based NGOs have trained up to these standards, essentially sidelining our nation from future humanitarian response participation.
Today the Institute for International Medicine today proposes to the MacArthur Foundation a grant request lead an initiative to thoroughly train and credential US-based EMTs capable of rapid deployment and effective humanitarian service conforming to today’s standards. INMED’s fourteen-years’ experience and our association with major institutions (including Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Massachusetts General Hospital Global Disaster Response, Heart to Heart International) give INMED the capacity to achieve this complex and urgent endeavor.