International Medical Corps is a global humanitarian nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and medical relief programs. Established in 1984 by volunteer United States doctors and nurses, International Medical Corps is a private, nonpolitical, nonsectarian organization. Its mission is to improve the quality of life through health interventions and related activities that build local capacity worldwide. By offering training and health care to local populations and medical assistance to people at highest risk, and with the flexibility to respond rapidly to emergency situations, International Medical Corps rehabilitates devastated health care and economic systems and helps bring them back to self-reliance.

In a world beset by armed conflict and in which natural disasters alone affect 250 million people each year, International Medical Corps provides emergency relief while building sustainable solutions for distressed communities worldwide. With some 3,500 dedicated staff, thousands of volunteers, and 25 years of experience working in the most difficult environments, International Medical Corps provides critical, lifesaving care for populations ravaged by war and disaster. 

In 2008, International Medical Corps’ programs reached some 11 million people in more than 25 countries and regions. International Medical Corps’ services included primary and secondary health care, nutrition, livelihoods, emergency medicine, reproductive health, maternal and child health, access to safe and clean water, mental health, and health education that saved lives, prevented the spread of disease, reestablished basic coping mechanisms, and began the process of restoring communities to self-reliance.

Twenty five years ago, we heard disturbing stories of life in Afghanistan following the Soviet occupation. Physicians and nurses were targeted and killed or fled the country. We could not ignore the medical emergency that was mounting on the Afghan/Pakistani border – we had an obligation to do something, so we traveled with a small crew of volunteers to provide medical assistance to five million refugees who were living in camps.

It was clear that our good intentions could not begin to address the overwhelming health needs, and in fact, a band aid approach might do more harm than good. We developed an innovative model of training Afghan medics to provide critical care to a population in desperate need. 

We recruited trainees from the most remote and underserved areas of Afghanistan who, at the end of their nine-month training, could diagnose and treat 75 to 80 percent of injuries and illnesses they encountered in the field. The Afghan medics traveled back to their communities with a stock of essential equipment, supplies, and medications to set up clinics, which were re-supplied every six months.

Less than five years later, International Medical Corps had graduated more than 200 medics who helped established 57 clinics and 10 hospitals in 18 provinces throughout rural Afghanistan—treating more than 50,000 patients each month.

The establishment of International Medical Corps marked a whole new kind of relief organization which trained health workers alongside the delivery of humanitarian assistance and launched the longer term process of restoring local health systems in emergency settings – something people thought couldn’t be done. Since 1984, International Medical Corps has delivered more than $819 million in program services and training for people in over 50 countries on four continents.