More than 35 years as a First Responder

Unable to stand by and watch an entire people deprived of basic health care, International Medical Corps is born with a pioneering approach: train Afghan civilians as advanced medics, then support and supply them as they return to Soviet-occupied Afghanistan to treat residents in their home communities. The unprecedented program succeeds, establishing our work and the important role of training in humanitarian assistance.

As the first American non-governmental organization in the country, we braved civil war to deliver desperately needed war-related surgery to civilians injured in the capital, Mogadishu, then follow up with a nutrition program for those caught up in an ensuing famine that grips vast areas of central Somalia. The speed and reach of our response furthered our reputation as an organization prepared to go where we are needed most, no matter where, when or what the conditions.

One of the few international NGOs to treat patients afflicted with the virus at the source of the 2014 outbreak in West Africa, today we provide health care and psychosocial support to Ebola survivors and work to strengthen local health care systems as part of longer term preparedness and response measures to prevent future outbreaks of Ebola and other infectious disease with epidemic potential.