We have been responding to emergencies around the world since 1988, when a team of eight Manchester clinicians led by our founder Prof. Tony Redmond, went to Armenia in aid of those who had been hit by a devastating earthquake. 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.
We have trained over 1100 UK clinicians to deploy overseas, representing a huge global resource and benefiting their roles within the NHS. We have deployed clinicians following 12 large-scale natural and manmade disasters, treating patients in emergencies in Armenia, Iran, China, Haiti, Nepal, Cape Verde Islands, Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Gaza, the Kurdish refugee crisis and the Siege of Sarajevo. We have delivered training to thousands of healthcare workers in local and regional medical teams in Sierra Leone, South Sudan, China, Malawi, Myanmar, Armenia and Uganda.
Nurse Becky Platt at the Diphtheria Treatment Centre in Kutupalong, Bangladesh. Photo Credit: DfID/ Russell Watkins