From 30.10.-03.11.2024, an AGNF delegation attended the ERC (European Resuscitation Council) conference in Athens. Among other things, we supported our partners from Uganda on their way to establishing a national resuscitation council recognized and supported by the ERC. The successful establishment of the ERC courses on emergency medical care for adults, children and newborns as part of GIZ’s clinic partnership support was essential for the introduction of standardized emergency care in Uganda. Our partner in Uganda, the AAPU training center, is now able to offer the internationally recognized and certified course formats Advanced Life Support (ALS), European Pediatric Advanced Life Support (EPALS) and Newborn Life Support (NLS) as well as other low-threshold course programs in Uganda and to train medical staff professionally and to a very high standard. A Ugandan National Resuscitation Council needs to be established in order to harmonize course standards in the country. This will enable Uganda to be permanently and institutionally linked to the ERC as the central professional association for resuscitation and the care of the critically ill, together with its scientific and educational international network. Officially, the ERC awards five seats to non-European countries that are part of the ERC and thus have the right to participate in the development of international standards. Last but not least, they are also supported in research topics.
Four of the five seats have already been allocated, Uganda has submitted a request for the fifth seat.
For this reason, the Ugandan presence at the ERC conference in Athens was indispensable.
The delegation from Uganda represented both the Ugandan Ministry of Health and our long-standing project partner, the Association of Ambulance Professionals Uganda (AAPU). This meant that central functions such as first chairman, assistant to the board, head of the training department, secretary general and international relations of the newly founded Ugandan Council for Resuscitation were present. A few weeks before the conference, the Ugandan Resuscitation Council submitted its concept note and thus the request for partnership with the ERC. This request was not only very well received by all medical associations in the country, but the project was also supported by the Ugandan Ministry of Health. During the conference, a first personal and very positive exchange took place with the ERC leadership group. The ERC gave Uganda the green light for the application and expressed great interest in a partnership and future collaboration. We expect to be able to congratulate our Ugandan colleagues on this great success within the next few months! Organized by the AGNF, the “low-income” countries present at the conference were also invited to a “Table Discussion”. Tunisia, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Egypt were present and were able to exchange experiences and make further contacts. In addition to the valuable exchange at the conference, the many exciting discussions and interesting presentations, we were able to use the opportunity to structure the tasks of the Ugandan Council for Revitalization and plan further projects.
