Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Three times as many natural disasters were recorded from 2000 to 2009 than from 1980 to 1989 — affecting about 217 million people a year since 1990. Meanwhile, roughly 300 million people now live amidst violent insecurity around the world. 70.8 million people have been displaced as a result of disasters as well as conflict, human rights violations and other factors, the highest number since WWII according to the U.N. Refugee Agency. During emergencies, injuries and illness often overwhelm the capacity of local health systems to meet the needs of their communities. A lack of staff, supply chain breakdowns and shortages in medical supplies delay emergency care and can exacerbate a crisis. As the severity of natural disasters continues to intensify and violent conflict goes on unabated, International Medical Corps' mission is to provide emergency medical care during disasters, while building the local capacity so that communities can be their own best future First Responders.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Emergency Response and Preparedness
Because disaster can strike anywhere and anytime, the ability to respond even in the most remote areas of the world is essential for effective emergency response. And with the most acute phase of disaster response spanning just 72 hours — when life-threatening injury and disease can be addressed — deployment speed is critical. Combined with pre-positioned stocks of essential supplies, and ongoing partnerships with both international and local aid groups, we maintain the needed surge capacity to respond to emergencies in the most challenging environments, regardless of scale or geographic location. In addition to delivering life-saving medical services and relief, we build self-reliance by offering training programs even in the midst of emergencies. In 2019, International Medical Corps responded quickly to several disasters and crises, including Hurricane Dorian in The Bahamas and North Carolina, Typhoon Hagibis in Japan and Typhoon Phanfone in the Philippines. Most recently, in 2020, we have been responding to the series of earthquakes in Puerto Rico, the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela and the global COVID-19 pandemic. We are also continuing to respond in ongoing conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, South Sudan, and Yemen.
To help bring the coronavirus pandemic to an end as quickly as possible, International Medical Corps is focused on ensuring continuity of operations throughout its programs and operations, to ensure that patients and other beneficiaries continue to receive essential healthcare services without disruption. To accomplish this goal, we are supporting relief efforts with the provision of supplies, screenings and case management, capacity building, mental health and psychosocial support, and the deployment of an Epidemic Response Team, as needed. We stay as long as we are needed, especially in places where there is a protracted complex emergency, including Syria, Yemen, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.
https://internationalmedicalcorps.org/program/emergency-response-preparedness/
Health Services Support
Efficient, well-organized and well-equipped health services can be lifesaving and life-changing when facilities are well equipped with pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, and when providers are well trained in how to use them in a range of critical areas. Training and education, as well as needed tools and resources, are therefore central to our support of health services. We train and mentor health workers, construct and rehabilitate local health facilities, and work hand-in-hand with both national governments and communities to ensure the primary and secondary healthcare is available and affordable for all. In 2019, we supported health-related services at 177 hospitals, 888 health centers and 122 mobile clinics in some 30 countries. We trained 82,037 people, with trainees studying emergency obstetric and neonatal care, family planning, the clinical management of rape and psychological first aid, management of malnutrition, approaches to infant and young child feeding and more. In 2020, we are deploying medicines, temporary medical shelters, and supplies, including personal protective equipment to support screening, triage and case management for hospitals impacted by COVID-19 in the U.S. and the countries where we operate.
https://internationalmedicalcorps.org/program/health-services-support/
Family and Community Health
Family and community health programming needs to target the entire population, including children and adolescents, as well as men and women of all ages and people with disabilities. These services are provided without any discrimination based on gender, age, place of origin, clan, religion, disability or any other physical, social, economic or cultural factors. Working with families and communities makes it possible for us to ensure a comprehensive approach to providing primary healthcare, which includes reproductive health, psychosocial support and disease prevention. This approach creates more resilient communities by helping affected families and communities benefit from direct healthcare services while at the same time developing healthy habits and practices that can endure a lifetime. International Medical Corps works with local governments and community leaders to engage individuals and households in an interactive process to identify their health priorities, needs and resources. We help mobilize resources, fill identified gaps as appropriate and pass needed skills into local hands through training. Combined, these efforts better prepare communities to face adversity and be more effective responders to emergencies in their communities.
https://internationalmedicalcorps.org/program/family-community-health/
Women’s and Children’s Health
Protecting the well-being of women and children is a high priority in healthcare. We consider women’s health fundamental to healthy communities because women ensure the maintenance and successful development of both families and communities. We improve the health of expectant mothers with appropriate prenatal care, delivery by skilled birth attendants and expert postnatal care and family planning services. In 2019, providers trained or supported by us gave 191,707 pregnant women the recommended minimum of two antenatal visits and attended 78,141 births. To protect children under five from communicable diseases, we administered 162,139 doses of the DPT vaccine and 543,561 doses of the measles vaccine. To address gender-based violence, we offer culturally appropriate prevention, protection and clinical services. In 2019, we provided 600 survivors of rape with post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) kits, and 19,992 female survivors of gender-based violence with psychosocial support. We also reached 1,036,466 individuals with targeted gender-based violence prevention messages.
https://internationalmedicalcorps.org/program/womens-childrens-health/
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
Providing adequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities is a key public health challenge for the new millennium. At a time when roughly 2.1 billion people lack access to safe, readily available drinking water at home and 4.5 billion do not have safely managed sanitation, roughly half the hospital beds in the developing countries are occupied by people suffering from water- and sanitation-related diseases such as diarrhea, pneumonia, skin infections and cholera. We therefore work to provide these most basic of human needs, especially in disaster-affected contexts. We support community efforts to provide and promote the use of clean water, safe sanitation services and hygiene awareness within communities and their health clinics to limit the spread of diarrheal diseases. In 2019, we rehabilitated or built 706 sources of clean water and 4,015 latrines to ensure proper sanitation. In addition, we reached an estimated 984,684 people with targeted messages on proper hygiene practices. Men, women and children affected by disaster or conflict received 427,065 hygiene kits.
https://internationalmedicalcorps.org/program/water-sanitation-hygiene/
Nutrition and Food Security
International Medical Corps helps strengthen nutrition programs at the national, local and community levels in some of the world’s most challenging environments. Malnutrition, both chronic and acute, contributes to approximately 3 million deaths of children under five each year — nearly 45% of all child deaths per year. It also carries enormous social and economic costs, leaving more than 155 million children with stunted growth, compromised cognitive development and/or poor physical health. We screen and treat children under five and pregnant and nursing women for acute malnutrition, and focus on educating the mothers and caregivers of young children on the importance of breastfeeding and of providing a diverse diet using locally available foods. In 2019, our nutrition programs reached 54,009 pregnant women and 195,219 children under five. This number includes 54,009 pregnant and nursing women and 124,492 children admitted into targeted supplementary feeding programs, 66,541 children provided with outpatient treatment of acute malnutrition, and 4,186 children admitted into inpatient stabilization centers.
https://internationalmedicalcorps.org/program/nutrition-food-security/
Mental Health and Psychosocial Support
Mental health conditions are one of the great invisible health burdens for all societies. In 2017, an estimated one in ten people experienced a mental or substance abuse condition worldwide, yet nearly two thirds of people with a known mental health condition will never seek help. During emergencies, the percentage of those suffering common mental conditions can double from 10% to 20%. Compounding the challenge, while one in four people in the world will be affected by a mental or neurological condition at some point in their lives, in 2018 the World Health Organization found that more than 40% of countries had no policy on mental health and some 30% of countries had no programming for mental health. We are an acknowledged leader in meeting mental health and psychosocial needs during humanitarian crises, and advocate for integrating mental health into primary care. We have implemented mental health programs in some 20 countries, including in emergency contexts. In 2019, we trained staff, established systems for the management of mental health services, and offered programs through hospitals, primary healthcare facilities and community centers. A total of 57,346 beneficiaries received mental health and psychosocial support services and 116,486 individuals participated in our psychosocial support programs, including recreational, social, educational and peer-to-peer support activities. In 2020, given the unprecedented nature of the global coronavirus pandemic and its multiple implications for individuals around the world, International Medical Corps is prioritizing efforts to ensure a continuity of mental health and psychosocial support services for beneficiaries in need, as well as the promotion of wellbeing for its staff.
https://internationalmedicalcorps.org/program/mental-health-psychosocial-support/
Where we work
Accreditations
American Institute of Philanthropy 2009
Charity Navigator 2016
Awards
Julia Vadala Taft Outstanding Leadership Award 2008
InterAction
Non-Profit CEO of the Year 2006
LA Business Journal
100 Best Charities 2003
Worth Magazine
Global Leadership Award 2004
Young Presidents' Organization
Distinguished Alumni Award 2007
American Association of State Colleges
Affiliations & memberships
Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance - Organization 2014
InterAction - Member 1988
External reviews

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Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of Direct Beneficiaries
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, Immigrants and migrants, Victims and oppressed people
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Across all program areas / sectors
Number of facilities improved
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, Immigrants and migrants, Victims and oppressed people
Related Program
Health Services Support
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
*Number of health facilities supported including mobile clinics, health centers, and hospitals
Number of Health Consultations Provided
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, Immigrants and migrants, People with diseases and illnesses
Related Program
Family and Community Health
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of deliveries attended by a Skilled Birth Attendant
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Economically disadvantaged people, Immigrants and migrants
Related Program
Women’s and Children’s Health
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of Children under 5 admitted to nutrition programs or stabilization centers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, Economically disadvantaged people, Immigrants and migrants
Related Program
Nutrition and Food Security
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of GBV survivors and vulnerable women that received individual psychosocial support or case management
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Economically disadvantaged people, Immigrants and migrants
Related Program
Mental Health and Psychosocial Support
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Includes both male and female survivors of GBV.
Number of Training Participants
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of individuals that received mental health and pychosocial services
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, Immigrants and migrants, People with psychosocial disabilities
Related Program
Mental Health and Psychosocial Support
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
International Medical Corps is a preeminent first-responder, able to deploy quickly in emergencies — often within 72 hours, anywhere and under any conditions. Our mission is to provide lifesaving services to people affected by natural disasters, disease or conflict. Before, during and after a crisis, we also focus on giving communities the capacity, resources and tools they need to effectively absorb the shock of a disaster or emergency, build resiliency and recover quickly. International Medical Corps focuses on the following areas:
- Building Health Capacity. The organization's focus on strengthening capacity not only fosters self-reliance, but also builds the kind of confidence, pride, and self-esteem essential for successful development and community stability. We build local capacity by training frontline health workers on topics such as infection prevention control across health facilities in line with global best practices.
- Providing Swift and Effective Lifesaving Medical Care with Emergency Preparedness and Response. Because the period immediately following an emergency is critical for saving lives, International Medical Corps' goal is to be on the scene and operational within 72 hours, even in the toughest places.
- Ensuring Women's and Children's Health and Well-being. Women and children are an International Medical Corps priority and a key factor in promoting health, building stable, confident, self-reliant communities, and eradicating global poverty.
- Implementing Mental Health Programs in Emergency Settings, including COVID-19. As leaders in this field, we incorporate mental health into our programs to address the psychosocial needs of disaster survivors and help those with pre-existing mental health conditions.
- Integrating WASH. International Medical Corps focuses on strengthening healthcare service delivery at the facility level by establishing safe water supply, sanitation infrastructure and related services. We also integrate hygiene promotion into all of our WASH projects to enable communities to better protect themselves from the threat of communicable diseases.
- Promoting Nutrition and Food Security. International Medical Corps fights malnutrition through both treatment and prevention programming, with a focus on children under five and pregnant and nursing women.
- Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Treatment in Conflict and Disasters. Existing programs range from primary healthcare screening and counseling for survivors to income-generating initiatives that boost the social status — and protection — of survivors.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
In 1984, a simple idea drove International Medical Corps' first relief mission — give local people the tools and knowledge to help themselves and the investment can sustain recovery and development beyond an existing crisis. Today, building the capacity of communities in the midst of an emergency remains the signature component of every International Medical Corps program and in the world's toughest environments. Self-reliance is only possible when lasting solutions are anchored in local culture and environments, affirmed by local decision making, and carried out by people with the knowledge and resources they need to become community assets. About 96% of International Medical Corps' field-based staff and health professionals are recruited from within the local community, to ensure that the gains are passed on and remain in-country long after programs have ended.
The hallmarks of International Medical Corps' programs are:
- Sustainability in programming by ensuring quality, value and excellence in all international and domestic work.
- Care for the communities it supports enshrined in its commitment, responsibility and responsiveness to the needs and priorities of the communities it serves.
- Engagement through improving awareness and access to information, seeking out bold and innovative approaches to difficult and pressing challenges and seizing opportunities for synergy through partnerships and collaboration.
- Transparency as a result of its commitment to the communities it serves, through the establishment of productive working relationships and its pledge to operate openly and inclusively.
- Accountability to the communities where International Medical Corps works, as well as with displaced persons, whether internally to a given country or refugees.
- Global experience harnessed to inform and improve future interventions, applying context-appropriate approaches where applicable, and avoiding pitfalls through lessons learned in previous experiences.
Throughout its global operations, International Medical Corps is committed to the following principles:
- Humanity: addressing human suffering wherever it is found.
- Neutrality: not taking sides in a conflict or engaging in controversies of a political, racial, religious or ideological nature.
- Impartiality: actions are based on need and the most urgent cases of distress are prioritized, with no distinctions about need on the basis of nationality, race, gender, religious belief, class or political viewpoint.
- Operational Independence: actions are entirely autonomous of any political, economic, military or other objectives of its donors or other actors with an interest in the areas where our work is implemented.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
International Medical Corps has responded to emergencies in over 80 countries on six continents, earning the reputation as a fast, reliable First Responder. As needs shift on the ground, we adjust our operations and programmatic focus based on the environment. International Medical Corps prioritizes capacity building through training to ensure that health systems are rebuilt and vulnerable communities become self-reliant. International Medical Corps' Emergency Response Unit is permanently staffed with established emergency response protocols and plans that address the particular human resource, technical, logistics and financial requirements of a rapid response. These include first-responder rosters and pre-positioned medical supplies, communications equipment, technical assessment toolkits and other resources. The Emergency Response Unit draws from a network of pre-trained staff from across the organization who deploy immediately. We recruit volunteer doctors, nurses and other thanks to partnerships with leading medical and public health institutions in the U.S. and an emergency response register of thousands of health professionals. International Medical Corps is also pursuing the World Health Organization’s Type 1 Global Emergency Medical Team Certification, which means that once certified, we will maintain the capacity to immediately deploy a static or mobile health facility that can treat between 50 and 100 patients a day.
International Medical Corps harnesses local knowledge and resources to address context-specific challenges, while also leveraging international best practices through cooperation with humanitarian actors and global agencies. We believe that the efficacy and impact of International Medical Corps’ work are enhanced through collaboration and partnerships with entities sharing similar goals. We place strong emphasis on collective learning and action. We are a member of coalitions and networks critical to the humanitarian field, including InterAction, the International Council of Voluntary Agencies, the Global Health Council, the NGO Leaders Forum convened by the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University and the Society for International Development. We are active within Inter-Agency Standing Committees (IASC), the Global Health, Nutrition, Water/Sanitation/Hygiene and Protection Clusters, the IASC Sub-Working Group on Gender, the IASC Task Force on the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and the IASC Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support. International Medical Corps also partners with academic institutions – including Stanford, Columbia, Harvard, UCLA, Johns Hopkins and others. The organization works directly with and through grants from government agencies, including USAID, AusAID, ECHO and DFID, among others, to reach the hardest-hit communities worldwide. International Medical Corps has also forged partnerships with numerous gift-in-kind partners.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
International Medical Corps has been a global First Responder to disaster, disease and conflict around the world for 35 years, providing lifesaving relief, health services and training across 80 countries on six continents. In 2019, our teams responded to emergencies and disasters of historic scale, including Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, which left approximately 1.85 million people in need of assistance; Hurricane Dorian, which hovered over The Bahamas for 30 hours before moving on to North Carolina; Typhoon Hagibis in Japan, causing 67,707 acres of flooding; and Typhoon Phanfone, which damaged some 530,000 homes and 32 health facilities in the Philippines. In response, we deployed quickly to meet the needs of those affected by crises related to healthcare; water, sanitation and hygiene; and mental health and psychosocial support, while also training local providers to be their own First Responders. In 2020, we are responding needs of survivors from the earthquakes in Puerto Rico, the Venezuelan humanitarian crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic globally.
Since the coronavirus outbreak began, International Medical Corps has been collaborating closely with coordinating bodies to support response efforts in the US and around the world. In the U.S., we are collaborating with more than 20 hospitals to ensure we are meeting the greatest need in cities and territories in the U.S. like Los Angeles, New York City, Puerto Rico, Chicago, and Detroit. Across the rest of the countries where we operate, we are supporting relief efforts with the provision of supplies, screenings and case management, capacity building, mental health and psychosocial support, and the deployment of an Epidemic Response Team, as needed.
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
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International Medical Corps
Board of directorsas of 02/08/2022
Robert Simon
Professor and Executive Chairman, Department of Emergency Medicine, Stroger Cook County Hospital, Rush University Medical Center
Nancy Aossey
International Medical Corps
Andrew Barth
Retired Chairman, Capital Guardian Trust Company
Linda Capello
Edward Carpenter
Chairman and CEO, Carpenter & Company
Paul Dean
Public Health Specialist and Dermatologist
James Hart
Former CEO, Senn Delaney
Mary McClymont
William Robinson
Chief Medical Officer - Bozeman Deaconess Hospital
Robert Simon
Professor and Executive Chairman, Department of Emergency Medicine, Stoger Cook County Hospital, Rush University Medical Center
Christine Toretti
Chairman, Palladio, LLC, Indiana, Pennsylvania
David Zuercher
(Retired) Wells Fargo & Company
Andrea Flippin
Assistant Professor (Retired) Department of Emergency Medicine Rush University Stroger-Cook County Hospital Chicago, IL
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
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Gender identity
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Sexual orientation
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Disability
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