Strada in Pittsburgh

On the evening of January 20^th at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health, Dr. Gino Strada, along with a panel, spoke with an eager crowd in the school's auditorium on Emergency, an independent medical aid organization that has reached around the world.

"No matter who triggers a war, the end result will be a catastrophe for civilians who bear no responsibility for it," said Dr. Gino Strada, Pitt alumnus and Emergency's chief surgeon. Emergency started in Milan in 1994 with $3,000 over Dr. Strada's kitchen table with a few close friends. The organization seeks to provide high-standard and free medical and surgical assistance to victims of war and began by serving victims of the Ruanda conflict. Strada began Emergency while working as a transplant surgeon at the University of Pittsburgh's Thomas E. Starzl Institute then later became a war surgeon. The staff, which has now expanded to 2,000 and is mostly comprised of nationals trained by Emergency workers, have treated nearly one million people. The night's speakers stressed that the organization aims to promote a culture of peace and solidarity, to campaign for the respect of human rights through direct action and to bring aid to the victims of natural disasters. Emergency carries humanitarian aid to war zones; to assist civilian victims who are wounded, suffering from hunger, malnutrition, disease, lack of medical care or education.

Working in Iraq for eight years on principles of non-violence, the organization has provided supplies, trained local personnel and built hospitals and first-aid posts especially in Kurdistan, the northern part of Iraq. Emergency renders its services in Afghanistan, Iraq, Sierra Leone, Algeria, Cambodia, and Palestine. The organization has set up many burn units that provide care and rehabilitation for patients who are injured from land mines and household accidents that are so common.

"In no way can these people be called collateral damage," Strada said of victims of the Iraq war. "I think that is a racist approach."

Emergency also works closely with Pittsburgh organization Global Links, who organizes volunteers to package surplus medical supplies to developing countries. They will soon be collaborating on sustaining Emergency's Maternity Center in the Panchir Valley in Afghanistan, where 593 maternal deaths occur for every 100,000 live births.

- Toni Bartone

Dr. Gino Strada (right) with one of his assistants, Emergency Hospital Kabul circa 2001

For additional information on Emergency:
http://www.emergency.it

For additional information on the Maternity Center and Global Links:
http://www.global links.org
412-361-3424