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Clinical Practice Committee Clinical Practice Committee
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Behavioral Emergencies SIG Behavioral Emergencies SIG
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Critical Care in Emergency Medicine SIG Critical Care in Emergency Medicine SIG
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Disaster Medicine SIG Disaster Medicine SIG
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EM Resident Trainee Special Interest Group EM Resident Trainee Special Interest Group
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Emergency Ultrasound SIG Emergency Ultrasound SIG
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Gender Specific Issues SIG Gender Specific Issues SIG
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Geriatric Emergency Medicine SIG Geriatric Emergency Medicine SIG
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Informatics Special Interest Group Informatics Special Interest Group
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Technology SIG Technology SIG
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Paediatric Emergency Medicine SIG Paediatric Emergency Medicine SIG
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Public and Environmental Health SIG Public and Environmental Health SIG
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Quality and Safety SIG Quality and Safety SIG
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Trauma SIG Trauma SIG
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Portuguese Translation Taskforce Portuguese Translation Taskforce
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- News
- About Us
- Our Vision, Mission, Goals and Strategy
- Our Board of Directors
- The Importance of Emergency Care
- Emergency Medicine Facts
- Why IFEM is needed
- IFEM Assembly
-
IFEM Awards IFEM Awards
- About IFEM awards
- Gautam Bodiwala Lifetime Leadership Achievement Award
- George Podgorny Lecturers
- Order of the International Federation of Emergency Medicine
- Humanitarian Award
- Visionary Industry Technology Award (VITA)
- VITA Award Recipients 2024
- ICEM 2025 Research Excellence Awards
- ICEM 2024 Research Award Winners
- Our governance
- Our history
- Position Statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- Contact us
Why IFEM is needed
Millions of avoidable deaths and over one third of disability in low and middle-income countries could be mitigated by the implementation of effective emergency care systems.
Both access to, and the quality of, emergency medical care is fundamental, and there is increasing awareness that current poor quality care is a big barrier to reducing mortality. Many countries still have no, or very basic, pre-hospital and in-hospital emergency care. This means that people suffer unnecessarily devastating impacts from road traffic crashes, workplace injury, common infections, heart attacks, stroke and other conditions that could be quickly and effectively treated in countries with effective emergency systems.
As a result, millions of people, including children and young adults in the prime of life, suffer death or permanent disability. Many who survive are no longer able to work and live a fulfilling and productive life with devastating impacts on their own wellbeing, their economic future, and that of their family and community.
The need for robust emergency care systems and specialty trained emergency physicians has never been more apparent than currently in the COVID-19 pandemic, where emergency departments and emergency care teams are at the forefront, providing care for patients despite exhaustion, personal risk of infection, overwhelmed health systems, and inadequate resources.