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International Medical Corps
International Medical Corps (IMC) is a U.S.-based nongovernmental organization (NGO) focused on humanitarian relief programming in the health sector and other related sectors. The mission of IMC is to save lives and relieve the suffering of individuals and communities through both immediate medical intervention and longer-term medical training. This shift from the direct provision of medical relief to the task of training individual communities to supply their own basic public health needs is one of the key strategies that contributes to the success of IMC programs worldwide.
IMC was founded by Dr. Robert Simon, a young emergency room doctor who was troubled by the mass execution and imprisonment of Afghan doctors during the Soviet invasion in 1979. Dr. Simon made many trips to Afghanistan in the 1980s to provide direct medical service to the Afghan people. After realizing that the task was too large for one physician to address, he founded International Medical Corps in 1984.
IMC's first international medical program was in Pakistan, just across the border from Afghanistan. This initiative was an intensive field training center aimed at educating individuals as medics to serve their local communities. Afghanis were recruited from remote villages to attend the nine-month training and then travel back to their communities with a stock of essential supplies and medications to set up small clinics. These clinics were resupplied every six months by IMC. The results were that these medics were able to treat over 75 percent of the illnesses and injuries that presented at the local clinics. By 1990, IMC had graduated over 200 medics in Afghanistan. These medics used their training and IMC funding and resources to set up 57 clinics and 10 hospitals in the remote villages of Afghanistan. The resulting network currently serves more than 50,000 patients per month.
Programming
IMC has programs in over 25 countries in Africa, Asia, eastern Europe, the Middle East, and South America. Program focus ranges from traditional health initiative such as emergency medicine and vaccinations, to broader wellness programs such as food for work, literacy, and substance abuse counseling.
In an effort to systematically address some of the most important issues in emergency health programming, IMC has determined what it calls its flagship initiatives. IMC believes that the following initiatives will have the most important impacts on the health status of communities around the world: building health capacity, emergency response, women and children's health, mental health, and clean water.
Building Health Capacity: The World Health Organization estimates that sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates of disease and conflict, but only three percent of the world's healthcare workers. IMC programs in Africa stress capacity, as well as building and training of both individuals and governments so they can take care of their own populations in the future.
Emergency Response: IMC is committed to responding with little notice in order to provide immediate, lifesaving services to communities hit by sudden disasters. Programs delivered during an emergency response may include emergency food distribution, provision of clean water, and temporary shelter.
Women and Children's Health: Refugee and displaced populations are primarily made up of women and children. In addition, maternal and child mortality rates among populations affected by conflict and disaster are exceedingly high. IMC programs focus on curative services for women and girls, including treatment for issues related to gender-based violence, maternal health reproductive health, and prevention of human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS). Programs aimed at women and girls complement health and nutrition programs that are aimed at children under five years of age. In cases where IMC is present in a community for longer periods of time, focus is also placed on improving the economic conditions of women through the introduction of microfinance initiatives, giving women the ability to contribute to the overall well-being of their children.
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- Africa, North
- Africa, Sub-Saharan
- Asia, East
- Asia, West, Central, and South
- Australia and Pacific Region
- Canada
- Caribbean Island Region
- China
- Desertification
- Earthquake Zones
- Europe, Eastern
- Europe, Western
- Evacuation Routes
- Glacial Melt
- Hurricane Zones
- Japan
- Mediterranean Region
- Mexico
- Middle East
- Ring of Fire
- Russia
- South America
- United Kingdom
- United States, California and West Coast
- United States, Great Lakes
- United States, Hawaii and Pacific Territories
- United States, Mid-Atlantic
- United States, Midwest
- United States, Mountain States
- United States, National
- United States, Northeast
- United States, Northwest and Northern Plains
- United States, Southeast and Gulf Coast
- United States, Southwest
- American Red Cross
- Center for International Disaster Information (CIDI)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- ChildFund International
- Coast Guard, U.S.
- Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE)
- Defense, U.S. Department of Direct Relief
- Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Response Associations
- Doctors Without Borders
- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
- Habitat for Humanity
- Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Institutional Coordination
- InterAction
- International Law in the Prevention and Mitigation of Disasters
- International Medical Corps
- International Red Cross
- Interpol
- Lutheran World Federation
- Mercy Corps
- National Governments
- Peace Corps
- Red Crescent Society
- Relief International
- Relief Rules
- Salvation Army
- St. Vincent de Paul
- State Governments
- United Nations
- United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
- United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
- United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
- United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
- World Concern
- World Emergency Relief
- World Food Program
- World Health Organization (WHO)
- World Relief
- World Vision
- History of Disaster Relief, Africa
- History of Disaster Relief, Ancient World
- History of Disaster Relief, China and East Asia
- History of Disaster Relief, Europe
- History of Disaster Relief, India
- History of Disaster Relief, Middle East
- History of Disaster Relief, North America
- History of Disaster Relief, Pacific Region
- History of Disaster Relief, Russia
- History of Disaster Relief, South America
- Chemical Disasters
- Cyberattacks
- Economic Disasters
- Food Contamination Disasters
- Gulf Coast Oil Spill (2010)
- Pandemic/Biological Accidents
- Poverty and Disasters
- Radiation Disasters
- Terrorism
- Wars
- Air Transport
- Food Distribution Infrastructure
- Internet
- Mass Transit
- Ports
- Railroads
- Roads
- Schools
- Utilities
- Water Systems
- Community Preparedness
- Community Response
- Evacuation
- Fire Departments
- Home Preparedness
- Local Hazards
- Municipal Offices of Emergency Management
- Personal Preparedness
- Police Departments
- Private Sector Preparedness
- Public Agency Preparedness
- Public-Private Partnerships
- University Preparedness
- Warnings
- Bubonic Plague
- HIV/AIDS
- Malaria (20th Century-Present)
- Measles (1850-Present)
- Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
- Smallpox (20th Century)
- Tuberculosis (20th Century-Present)
- Earthquakes
- Famine
- Fire
- Floods
- Hurricanes
- Terrorist Attacks
- Tsunami
- Volcanoes
- Wars
- First Aid
- Hysteria
- Pandemic Planning
- Panic
- Panic
- Psychology, Mass
- Psychology, Personal
- Social Work
- Stress Syndromes
- Survivor Guilt
- Working With the Bereaved
- Agricultural Production
- Business Continuity Planning
- Citizen Preparedness Programs
- Cooperation Between Civilian and Military Agencies
- Crisis Management
- Education
- Emergency Response Guidelines and Regulations
- Emergency Rooms
- Evacuation Planning
- Evacuation, Types of
- Exercise Planning
- Food Distribution Systems
- Healthcare
- Hospital Preparedness
- International Standards
- Language Issues and Barriers
- Levels of Nutrition
- Mass Casualty Management
- Media
- National Incident Management System (NIMS)
- National Standards
- Packaging and Tracing of Food
- Paramedics
- Political Economy of Food
- Provision of Food in Disasters
- Refugee Policy
- Refugees, Care of
- Reserve Storage and Transport
- Transportation
- Vulnerable Populations
- Incentives, Intergovernmental and Intersystem
- Mitigation, Benefits and Costs of
- Private Sector, Role in Mitigation
- Public Sector, Role in Mitigation
- Public-Private Interactions in Mitigation
- Regulatory Approaches to Mitigation
- Risk, Government Assumption of
- Risk, Individual Assumption of
- Structural (Engineering) Options for Mitigation
- Avalanches
- Diseases
- Droughts
- Earthquakes
- Fires, Forest
- Fires, Urban
- Floods
- Heat Waves
- Hurricanes/Typhoons
- Landslides
- Pest Invasions
- Sea Surges
- Tornadoes
- Tsunamis
- Volcanoes
- Winter Storms
- Bilateral Versus Multilateral Aid
- Domestic Corruption in International Disasters
- Domestic Politics in International Disasters
- Donations, National
- Donations, Personal
- Funding of International Relief
- Fundraising Cycles
- Politics in International Funding
- Rejection of International Aid
- Intergovernmental Relations and Preparedness
- Planning for Disasters, International
- Planning for Disasters, Local
- Planning for Disasters, National
- Political Support for Preparedness
- Preparedness, Function of
- Preparedness Policy Implementation
- Private Sector, Role in Preparedness
- Research-Based Disaster Planning
- Private Sector, Role in Recovery
- Recovery, International
- Recovery, Local
- Recovery, National
- Recovery, Phases of
- Recovery, Role of Governments in
- Private Sector, Role in Response
- Response, Management Strategies
- Response, Operational Strategies
- Response, Stress Impacts of
- Data Processing
- Early Warning and Prediction Systems
- Funding, U.S.
- Global Warming
- Modeling
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
- Real-Time Communications
- Research
- Technology
- Technology, Military
- Causes of Complex Emergencies
- Cross-Cultural Interactions
- Cycles of a Disaster
- Disaster Experience
- Education
- Emergency Management Resources
- Ethics of Charity Relief
- Ethnicity and Minority Status Effects on Preparedness
- Gender and Disasters
- Human Rights
- Humanitarian Intervention Versus Humanitarian Action
- Income Inequality and Disaster Relief
- Laws
- Personal Preparedness
- Politics, Domestic
- Politics in International Funding
- Protection of Civilians in Conflict Zones
- Public Policy
- Refugees
- Relief Versus Development
- Risk Communications
- Risk Management
- Risk Perceptions
- Social Impact of Disasters
- Training for Disasters
- Victimology
- United States, California and West Coast
- United States, Great Lakes
- United States, Hawaii and Pacific Territories
- United States, Mid-Atlantic
- United States, Midwest
- United States, Mountain States
- United States, National
- United States, Northeast
- United States, Northwest and Northern Plains
- United States, Southeast and Gulf Coast
- United States, Southwest
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