International Medical Corps

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International Medical Corps (known also as IMC, particularly in the field) is a global humanitarian nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs.[1] Since its founding, International Medical Corps has delivered $969 million worth of assistance to millions of people in more than 50 countries around the world. [2]

From the Southeast Asian tsunami to Darfur and Hurricane Katrina, International Medical Corps has responded to nearly every major emergency in the past two decades. Today, International Medical Corps works in more than 20 countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan (Darfur), Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.[3]

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[edit] Mission and Approach

Founded in 1984 by volunteer doctors and nurses, International Medical Corps is a private, voluntary, nonpolitical, nonsectarian organization that works to improve the quality of life through health interventions and related activities that build local capacity in under served communities worldwide.

International Medical Corps provides life-saving relief while building self-reliance through programs that focus on education and training. As a result of this approach, approximately 96% of its field-based staff and health professionals are recruited from the local community, helping ensure that the skills stay within the area long after the program has ended.[4]

The emphasis on capacity building through education and training is central to all International Medical Corps programs. Its central program priorities include: emergency response; health capacity building; women’s and children’s health and wellbeing; mental health; and clean water, sanitation, and hygiene.[5] In addition to these priorities, International Medical Corps also runs programs providing nutrition services, economic and agricultural livelihoods support, and prevention, testing, and care for communicable diseases like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

International Medical Corps is also a founding member of the ONE campaign[6] and part of the Clinton Global Initiative.[7] Ninety-two cents of every dollar goes directly to its field programs – one of the highest fundraising efficiencies in the industry – and International Medical Corps is an A+ rated charity by the American Institute of Philanthropy and a BBB accredited charity.[8] [9]

[edit] History

International Medical Corps was founded by Dr. Robert Simon, a young emergency-room physician at UCLA Medical Center, who was moved to take action after learning about the plight of the Afghan people as a result of the 1979 Soviet invasion and subsequent occupation. All but 200 of the country’s 1,500 doctors had been executed, imprisoned, or exiled, and relief agencies had been ordered out of the country, leaving the Afghan people nowhere to turn for health care.

Simon began making trips to Afghanistan to provide medical assistance directly to civilians, eventually selling his Malibu home to finance a clinic in the battered Kunar River Valley. Eventually, understanding that a few new clinics would not meet the overwhelming health care needs of Afghans, Simon set up a full-time Afghan medical training center in the nearby – and relative security of - the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan.

At the end of one nine-month course, the Afghan medics trained by International Medical Corps were able to diagnose and treat 75-80 percent of the injuries and illnesses they encountered in the field. By 1990, International Medical Corps had graduated more than 200 medics who helped established 57 clinics and 10 hospitals in 18 provinces throughout rural Afghanistan.[10]

[edit] Current Operations

Today, International Medical works in more than 25 countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, providing relief to populations facing war, conflict, natural disaster, famine, and poverty while also laying the foundation for sustainable development. Its programs are funded from both public and private sources, including USAID, OFDA, ECHO, The United Nations, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and AmeriCares.[11] In 2008, International Medical Corps received $94.7 million in support from grants, contributions, and donated medical supplies and services.[12]

International Medical Corps is based in Los Angeles with other offices in Washington, DC, London, and Split, Croatia. They currently employ more than 3,500 employees and thousands of volunteers in more than 25 countries.

[edit] Recent Programmatic Initiatives

Kenya Crisis: IMC is currently responding to the post-election humanitarian crisis in Kenya by sending mobile clinics to "spontaneous settlements" where displaced people have congregated.[13]

[edit] Leadership

Nancy Aossey, International Medical Corps’ president and CEO, has led the organization since 1986 and has overseen International Medical Corps’ expansion to include more than 50 countries.[14] Aossey has served as Chairman of the Board of InterAction, America's largest coalition of international relief organizations, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. [15] In 2006, the Los Angeles Business Journal named Aossey non-profit CEO of the year and, in 2007, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities recognized her dedication to her cause with the Distinguished Alumnus Award.[16] She also testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia on the return and resettlement of Iraqi refugees. [17]

Dr. Robert Simon, M.D., together with a group of American volunteer physicians and nurses, founded International Medical Corps in 1984. Simon is a professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Rush University, Stroger-Cook County Hospital in Chicago. He is also the former Bureau Chief of the Cook County Bureau of Health Services.

[edit] External links

  1. ^ http://www.imcworldwide.org/Page.aspx?pid=289
  2. ^ International Medical Corps 2008 Annual Report
  3. ^ http://www.imcworldwide.org/where_we_work
  4. ^ http://www.imcworldwide.org/Page.aspx?pid=393
  5. ^ http://www.imcworldwide.org/Page.aspx?pid=393
  6. ^ http://www.one.org/c/us/partner/
  7. ^ http://www.clintonglobalinitiative.org/commitments/commitments_search.asp?Section=Commitments&PageTitle=Browse%20and%20Search%20Commitments&id=302467
  8. ^ http://www.charitywatch.org/toprated.html#intrelief
  9. ^ http://www.bbb.org/charity-reviews/national/relief-and-development/international-medical-corps-in-santa-monica-ca-453
  10. ^ http://www.imcworldwide.org/Page.aspx?pid=289
  11. ^ http://content.imcworldwide.org/pdfs/IMC_2008_Annual_Report.pdf
  12. ^ http://content.imcworldwide.org/pdfs/IMC_2008_Annual_Report.pdf
  13. ^ http://www.imcworldwide.org/microsites/kenya_crisis/kenya1.html IMC's Kenya Crisis page with link to press release and support material
  14. ^ http://www.imcworldwide.org/Page.aspx?pid=287
  15. ^ http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Nancy_A._Aossey
  16. ^ http://www.cba.uni.edu/dbWeb/searchprofiles-detail.cfm?ProfileID=10
  17. ^ http://foreign.senate.gov/testimony/2009/AosseyTestimony090331pp.pdf
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