Press Release

International Medical Corps Shares Best Practices as First Responder to Ebola Crisis at C3 Saudi-American Healthcare Forum

A preeminent First Responder, global humanitarian organization International Medical Corps responded immediately to the unprecedented Ebola crisis with a comprehensive emergency response to stop the outbreak at its source. Throughout the hardest-hit countries in West Africa, the nonprofit has implemented Ebola Treatment Units (ETUs) to provide lifesaving health care as well as critical training programs to prepare local communities to combat future disease outbreaks. At the C3 Saudi-American Healthcare Forum, International Medical Corps will share best practices and lessons learned on preparing vulnerable communities for infectious disease outbreaks through health care training programs.

“International Medical Corps is committed to partnering with local governments, communities, NGOs and the private sector to help rebuild broken health systems in West Africa and train local first responders to prevent another outbreak from becoming a devastating epidemic,” said Rabih Torbay, Senior Vice President, International Operations for International Medical Corps. “Our teams have trained over 1,800 personnel in Liberia, Guinea, Mali and Sierra Leone, conveying the skills needed to respond more effectively to a future outbreak.”

According to the World Health Organization, there have been over 25,700 suspected, probable and confirmed Ebola cases in eight countries since the Ebola outbreak was declared in March 2014. Today, International Medical Corps remains one of only a handful of international NGOs with the capacity to treat Ebola patients. Operating in all three nations with high infection rates—Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone—plus Mali, the organization continues to focus on the goal of reducing the number of new cases to zero. To expand the pool of health workers, International Medical Corps developed a specialized curriculum to train frontline staff in infectious disease control measures. The organization currently has more than 1,350 staff working on Ebola response, roughly 90% of whom are African nationals. These teams have screened over 1,600 people and discharged 169 survivors.

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