About GEMA

of HIV and tuberculosis as well as routine maternal and child health vaccinations.

Humanitarian aid groups must also prioritize the urgent need to treat and prevent the further spread of malnutrition in Tigray and neighboring regions; this will require the implementation of malnutrition screening and treatment programs. The World Food Program has already distributed food assistance to people across much of Northern Ethiopia, yet funding and supply limitations have created a barrier to more widespread blanket supplementary feeding programs. Funding and supporting logistics for such supplementary feeding is an immediate priority; however, if the people of Tigray are to avoid reliance on external actors for food, then humanitarian groups must help rebuild local agriculture by providing locals with the tools for farming and raising livestock. This will also include adaptations that take into consideration climate change and the drought currently impacting the Horn of Africa. Underlying all these priorities is the imperative for the Government of Ethiopia and nongovernment stakeholders to continue to facilitate access to gas, banking, telecommunications, and safe water supply.

A final priority will be addressing the mental health and rehabilitation needs of this population who has faced unfathomable trauma. Particular attention must be given to survivors of gender-based violence who had immense unmet needs even before the war. Access to mental health and rehabilitation should be embedded into the recovery plan as part of rebuilding primary health care units. As telecommunication resumes, innovative approaches such as telehealth programs can close the gap in establishing longitudinal mental health support to the area.

As emergency medicine physicians, we are well positioned to contribute our clinical and public health skills during all phases of humanitarian emergencies. With appropriate training, our expertise in emergency care across the spectrum of diseases can be employed not only in the immediate aftermath of conflict-related humanitarian crises but also throughout the recovery phase.

About The Authors

Dr. Roy is an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Loma Linda University. She spent three months in Tigray with Doctors Without Borders in the spring of 2021 providing medical care to internally displaced people. She completed a fellowship in Global Emergency Medicine at Columbia University.

Dr. Leff is an emergency medicine resident at the Mayo Clinic. She is the current resident representative to the Global Emergency Medicine Academy (GEMA) and cochairs GEMA’s pediatrics and humanitarian sections.

Dr. Firew is an associate professor of emergency medicine at Columbia University and serves as a special advisor to the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia. She has responded to humanitarian crises in Haiti and Mosul, Iraq.

The Global Emergency Medicine Academy (GEMA) focuses on improvement of the worldwide delivery of emergency medical care. Membership in SAEM's academies and interest groups is free. To participate in one more groups: 1.) log into SAEM.org; 2.) click “My Participation” in the upper navigation bar; and 3) click “Update (+/-) Academies or Interest Groups.”