Why do patients still die despite receiving the right treatment? Dr Irene Akhideno reflects on why recognising and treating critical illness is the missing piece in many hospitals, and how EECC is helping Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital strengthen care for every critically ill patient.

Sustainable improvements in healthcare are driven by local leadership. Reflecting on a week of EECC implementation in Tanganyika Province, Dr Rodrigo López Barreda explains why developing future trainers and leaders is the key to improving care for critically ill patients across the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A new Stanford University project in Uganda will implement Vital Signs Directed Therapy, an EECC approach that links abnormal vital signs to immediate treatment. It is another encouraging example of EECC principles being adopted by organisations to strengthen care for critically ill patients.

Ethiopia has formally endorsed the Addis Ababa Declaration on Emergency, Critical and Operative Care, which calls for Essential Emergency and Critical Care (EECC) to be a minimum standard. EECC Global is now working to build support for a wider multi-country African declaration.

The EECC in Tanzania programme has won the inaugural Lancet–Elsevier Foundation Evidence to Impact Award, recognising its successful and ongoing implementation of Essential Emergency and Critical Care across 79 hospitals and its association with a 31% reduction in inpatient mortality.

After months of planning and perseverance, Ghana has completed its first Essential Emergency and Critical Care (EECC) Training of Trainers programme. Twenty new facilitators are now ready to train others, laying the foundations for stronger emergency and critical care across the country.

A new partnership between EECC Global Mauritania and Medipole Polyclinic is helping expand Essential Emergency and Critical Care in Mauritania. Through local leadership, training and collaboration, clinicians are building the skills needed to identify and treat critical illness earlier and more effectively.

When 10-year-old Runia arrived barely conscious with severe malaria and dangerously low oxygen levels, Vwawa District Hospital was ready. Despite already caring for eight children on oxygen, EECC-trained staff acted immediately, helping Runia recover and return home to her family.

EECC Global has launched CRISP, a new group of critical illness survivors, patients and relatives helping to shape our work. By bringing lived experience into research, advocacy and implementation, we are ensuring that the voices of patients and families help guide the future of essential care.

Healthcare workers at Nkhoma Mission Hospital in Malawi have completed their first EECC training course, building practical skills in recognising and managing critical illness. The successful programme demonstrates growing momentum for EECC implementation and capacity building across Africa.

Following a 31% reduction in hospital deaths after the implementation of Essential Emergency and Critical Care (EECC), attention is turning to what comes next. New recommendations aim to help embed EECC across Tanzania's health system and extend lifesaving care to more patients.

Tim Baker joined global experts at the 6th World Sepsis Congress to discuss how Essential Emergency and Critical Care (EECC) supports Emergency, Critical, and Operative Care (ECO). Watch his presentation exploring why foundational care is central to improving outcomes for critically ill patients.

A global Training of Trainers in Tanzania is equipping 22 clinicians from 10 countries to teach Essential Emergency and Critical Care: scaling simple, life-saving interventions through local training, and ensuring critically ill patients receive timely, effective care wherever they are.

A new nationwide study from Ethiopia shows rapid ICU expansion but persistent gaps in basic care. The findings highlight the need for Essential Emergency and Critical Care to ensure early recognition and life-saving treatment for all critically ill patients.

The EECC Training of Trainers course in Ethiopia supports building a growing international network of clinicians equipped to teach essential care, spreading practical skills, strengthening local capacity, and accelerating the global implementation of EECC across diverse health systems.

As WHO Member States prepare to adopt the global ECO strategy at WHA 2026, researchers led by Tim Baker argue that Essential Emergency and Critical Care must underpin implementation to ensure equitable, cost-effective, population-level impact through foundational life-saving care for all patients.

At WCA 2026 in Marrakech, EECC Global strengthened global momentum for essential care, with new national society endorsements of the EECC declaration signalling growing recognition that life-saving, basic critical care must be a standard in every hospital.

A simple protocol can transform critical care. In Tanzania, Vital Signs Directed Therapy enabled faster responses to deterioration and improved survival in shock, showing how reliable delivery of basic interventions can save lives even in resource constrained ICUs.

Clinicians from across Africa and beyond gathered in Tanzania to become EECC Champions: equipped to deliver simple, life-saving care. With proven impact, including a 31% reduction in mortality, this workshop is helping turn essential care into standard practice worldwide.

When Christopher arrived at hospital struggling to breathe, staff trained in Essential Emergency and Critical Care recognised dangerously low oxygen levels and acted immediately. Oxygen therapy, careful positioning, and treatment for heart failure stabilised his condition, allowing him to recover and return home.