Dr Trina Sale connecting with Dr Teri Reynolds, WHO Lead for Emergency and Trauma Care Program. Dr Teri Reynolds as also a key speaker at the side event.
Along the margin of the 78th World Health Assembly, and alongside the numerous side events that took place during the Health Assembly, the side event on Strengthening Acute Care Systems to Save Lives was convened during the week. The side event was in response to acting on the Resolution WHA 76.2 that was adopted during the Seventy sixth World Health Assembly in 2023, and placed emphasis on the importance of integrated emergency, critical and operative (ECO) care as essential components of universal health coverage (UHC) and protection from health emergencies.
The resolution recognises that robust ECO services are crucial for addressing a wide range of health needs throughout a personβs life, including managing infections, injuries, complications from pregnancy, and acute exacerbations of chronic diseases such as asthma and heart attacks.
The resolution calls for the development of a global strategyΒ and action plan for integrated ECO care from 2026 to 2035 to facilitate coordinated efforts among member states to ensure universal access to necessary ECO services thus improving capacity to respond effectively to emergencies and public health challenges.
The side event was organised by the Acute Care Network (ACN), a global alliance of key stakeholders committed to saving millions of lives by advancing acute care through collaboration to meet the mandate of WHA 76.2 resolution. The ACAN Allianceβs primary objective is to strengthen acute care delivery in low and middle income countries through implementation of WHO tools and resources. It aims to improve patient outcomes by promoting timely access to quality emergency, critical and operative services. ACAN has partnered with several organisations including Laerdal foundation and American Heart Association
Since its establishment with a strategic collaboration and support from the Laerdal Foundation and the American Heart Association to support its initiative and with collaboration with WHO to implement the Basic Emergency Care (BEC) Course, the health outcome has been shown a reduction of mortality rates by about 50%.
During the side event the Acute Care Transformation Initiative was launched with a commitment of $12.5M from Laerdal Global Health to support the implementation of the Basic Emergency Care Course aiming to save an estimated 50,000 lives every year. 15 training kits have been donated to the Pacific of which Solomon Islands will receive one, bringing the total number of training kits in country to 2. The Basic Emergency Care Course through support by the regional emergency and critical care systems strengthening initiative (RECSI), coordinated through Alfred Health, a member of ACAN, is currently being run in- country by the Emergency Department Team with Train the Trainers course with the plan to roll out to all provinces.
Taking the opportunity of such global side event and noting the relevance of the theme, Dr Trina Sale, Head of the Emergency Department at the National Referral Hospital attended the side event on behalf of the MHMS delegation.
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