Disease outbreaks, climate change and conflict are affecting millions of people each year and that number is growing. We’re facing a global-health crises and tragically it’s the poorest people who suffer most.
UK-Med is an international emergency health charity who believes everyone should have the health care they need when crises or disasters hit. We save lives in emergencies. So, when health systems are over-whelmed, we send expert health teams to where they’re needed fast. We help communities prepare for future emergencies, and we share what we learn so people across the world can get the best care.
Our global response to the COVID-19 pandemic:
Since February 2020 UK-Med has responded to 13 requests for help to support the global COVID-19 pandemic in countries including Ghana, Cambodia, Zambia, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Armenia and Eswatini in Southern Africa. Our work involves providing direct clinical care, delivering specialist training and on the job mentoring and support to better prepare health care teams for future emergencies and developing research projects to share best practice and inform policy improvements across the humanitarian health sector.
We’re a lead partner in the UK Emergency Medical Team (UK EMT), the Government’s frontline response to a medical emergency and we played a key role in the set-up of the Nightingale, Manchester.
Helping fight COVID-19 in Djibouti, East Africa:
UK-Med’s most recent response in June, follows an urgent request for help via the WHO Emergency Medical Team’s (EMT) Secretariat to support Djibouti’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Djibouti is a small country on the East coast of Africa which has become a temporary shelter to around 33,000 asylum seekers and refugees fleeing war and drought. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was estimated thousands of people passed through the country each year from its neighbours: Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and from across the Bay of Aden, Yemen.
With a population of less than a million, Djibouti itself is facing a number of crises, particularly extreme poverty, limited access to healthcare and continual health problems, including HIV/Aids[1]. Nearly half the country’s population live in slums on the outskirts of the capital city, making it a hotspot for a future COVID-19 surge.
The UK-Med team:
Although current case numbers of COVID-19 are low with (as of June 22nd) 11,591 confirmed cases and 155 reported deaths, Djibouti needs urgent support to prepare for a future wave.
UK-Med has sent a team of four medics to assess and deliver urgent training in four of the larger hospitals in the capital – Djibouti City.
The team is made up of a critical care doctor and nurse from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, a specialist nurse in infection, prevention and control (IPC) from Benin – West Africa and a British biomedical engineer from Bedfordshire.
They are providing specialist training to healthcare staff to treat serious and critically ill patients with COVID-19, setting up a triage system in each of the four hospitals, encouraging the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine amongst healthcare workers and developing infection, prevention and control guidelines to prevent the further spread of the virus. The biomedical engineer is also delivering training in the distribution and supply of oxygen and maintenance of medical equipment.
A Manchester charity, born of the NHS:
Born of the NHS, UK-Med is a Manchester charity that has been responding to emergencies around the world for more than 30 years. Our founder Professor Tony Redmond OBE led the first response – a team of eight Manchester clinicians to Armenia in aid of those who had been hit by a devastating earthquake in 1988.
When Ebola hit West Africa in 2014, killing over 11,000 people, we recruited, trained and sent 150 NHS clinicians to work in treatment centres alongside local health workers to help bring the outbreak under control.
A unique mix of expertise:
Today, UK-Med draws our teams from a unique mix of top NHS and international clinicians, experienced aid workers and local expertise. Our register of nearly 1000 doctors, nurses and allied health professionals of all specialities is rigorously trained for emergencies. The patients we reach receive the best possible care because our teams are verified to international standards by the World Health Organisation.
Support us to help everyone get the health care they need when crises or disasters hit.
For the pandemic to end it needs to end everywhere. And right now, there are too many forgotten places. A donation today will help us continue our work in Djibouti or on another emergency health response. UK-Med only responds to local requests for support and when we know we can add value. Read more about our COVID-19 responses around the world.
Alison Mee
Media and Communications Manager
UK-Med
Better Health For All 