PUNE: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called upon countries in its southeast Asia Region to strengthen emergency medical teams, to be better prepared to respond to public health emergencies.“Strengthening national and regional-level emergency medical teams is a high-impact investment in reducing deaths, diseases and disabilities due to disasters, outbreaks and other emergencies. Emergency medical teams contribute to life-saving critical interventions,” said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director, WHO (Southeast Asia region).Experience from health emergencies in the region have shown that following a sudden onset disaster, a large number of emergency medical teams (EMTs) or emergency response teams often arrive in the affected country to provide emergency care to affected people.The EMTs are national, international , government, non-governmental, civilian and military. These teams have varied capacities, and their deployment is often not based on assessed needs.“To be more effective, EMTs need to be standardised, strengthened and well-coordinated,” Khetrapal Singh said.WHO is helping mentor EMTs to improve their capacities in line with international standards. The WHO EMT Initiative aims at supporting countries, nongovernmental organisations, international organisations, by identifying minimum standards, best practices, logistics and standard operating procedures for operating field coordination, for saving lives, preserving health and protecting dignity.The initiative seeks to improve timeliness and quality of health services provided by national and international EMTs, enhance the capacity of national health system to lead and coordinate such teams.“In an emergency, the outcome of the response depends on how quickly the right expertise reaches the right place at the right time to meet the needs of the affected people,” Khetrapal Singh said.