In 2019, over 158,000 people died, and 8.9 million healthy life years were lost due to road traffic injuries (RTI) in the Americas. Strengthened emergency care systems (ECS) significantly decrease mortality and disabilities resulting from RTI by offering an effective platform to provide accessible, timely quality care for the injured.

This project, run by PAHO, will implement an integrated multidisciplinary regional strategy to strengthen emergency care systems in the Americas, improving post-crash response. This work in collaboration with countries – Belize, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, and Paraguay – will identify gaps in emergency care and target context-based solutions.

The project will use tools and resources developed by WHO to support emergency care, including the Emergency Care Systems Assessment (ECSA). The ECSA is a national multi-stakeholder priority setting tool to help governments identify high-impact, short and medium-term activities.

Stakeholders involved in this project include Ministries of Health, public and private healthcare organizations, pre-hospital care organizations, local road safety agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other institutions providing post-crash emergency care.