WHO, MoHMIT and MoDT join forces to enhance the national capacity on Emergency Medical Teams in Turkmenistan

The trilateral joint meeting took place at the International Educational and Scientific Center of the MoHMIT in a hybrid mode. The discussions led by the three parties focused on the following issues: ways to improve the capacity of the national systems on EMT, the implementation progress of the WHO mission recommendations on strengthening the national capacity on EMT, appointment of the National focal points on EMT, establishing of the national EMT classified by WHO, as well as consideration of the International Educational and Scientific Center of the MoHMIT in Ashgabat as a sub-regional training center on EMT. Moreover, valuable lessons from the earthquake in Turkey in February 2023 were presented by WHO/Europe EMT coordinator Oleg Storozhenko to the participants of the meeting.

At the end of the meeting the participants discussed and agreed on further joint actions under WHO EMT initiative on strengthening the country's response to public health emergencies and other disasters.

Background

Adopted in 2010, the WHO Emergency Medical Teams (EMT) initiative aims at enhancing the capacity of the countries to prepare for and respond to health emergencies by developing and deploying quality-assured medical teams. The EMT 2030 Strategy was launched at the 5th EMT Global Meeting in Yerevan (Armenia) in October 2022, in which representatives of Central Asian countries, including Turkmenistan, expressed interest in developing national and sub-regional EMTs during and after the Global Meeting.