In every country where it operates, Emergency has been promoting and putting into practice a model of sustainable healthcare for 25 years. Free care, training of local staff, efficient facilities. With respect for people and the environment.
Sustainability. We hear about it more and more, we read about it in the newspapers, it is making its way into public debate. But how does such a broad topic translate into the reality of Emergency? The answer is very simple. In each of the countries where we operate, for 25 years we have been promoting and putting into practice a model of sustainable healthcare. Socially sustainable, as well as economically and environmentally. All our projects are based on three core principles: equality, quality and social responsibility.
Starting from the non-negotiable premise that healthcare is a fundamental human right and must as such be recognised for every individual without discrimination, we design, build and manage hospitals with a long-term perspective. We work towards a day when our presence on the ground becomes unnecessary. To achieve this goal, an essential component of our work is the training of local staff, who account for approximately 85 per cent of all the staff employed in our projects around the world.
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Every day, international staff work side by side with their national colleagues to ensure quality clinical standards while at the same time strengthening the local healthcare system. All our hospitals in Afghanistan are recognised training centres for specialisations in paediatrics, surgery and gynaecology, just as the Salam centre for cardiac surgery in Sudan is recognised as a training centre for intensive care nurses and for specialists in cardiac surgery, cardiology and anaesthesia. Just a few months ago we proudly celebrated Dr Amin, the first paediatrician trained at our centre in Panjshir, who brilliantly passed his state examination in Kabul and obtained his specialisation.
Another fundamental element is the involvement of local communities and the authorities of the countries that host us. We support communities by employing national staff in our hospitals, giving priority to vulnerable groups and ensuring that through their work they can guarantee a decent standard of living for their families without creating disparities at the local level. We agree our interventions with local authorities, involving them in the various stages of planning and implementation and asking them to allocate human and financial resources on a regular basis to ensure the hospitals function properly. In this way we will be able to transfer responsibility for the facilities to them at the end of a shared process.
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In the design and management of our hospitals we also try to set a good example in terms of environmental responsibility. In Goderich, Sierra Leone, all hazardous infectious medical waste from our surgical and paediatric centre is shredded and sterilised before leaving the hospital. The maternity centre in Anabah, Afghanistan, stands in a valley with no electricity supply, and we have made it entirely self-sufficient through a cogeneration system. The centre of paediatric excellence in Entebbe, Uganda, currently under construction to a design by architect Renzo Piano, will be built in pisé, a traditional construction technique that prevents heat loss, and covered with photovoltaic panels. The same applies to our headquarters in Milan, Casa Emergency, which holds an energy class B certification thanks to its effective system for reusing thermal energy and water resources.
All of this is something we are able to achieve because hundreds of thousands of people choose to support us, with donations large and small, regular or one-off, such as the 5 per mille on their tax return. Once again, in 2017, Emergency was the first choice for Italian citizens who decided to donate a small percentage of their taxes to the voluntary sector. Over 60 per cent of the funds we raise each year comes from private donations. This model of sustainable healthcare that we have been pursuing for 25 years is therefore possible above all thanks to you.
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In 2018, for the first time, we decided to publish a sustainability report with the aim of providing the hundreds of thousands of people who choose to support us with an additional transparent tool for verifying the activities that we are able to carry out every day thanks to their contribution. To produce it, we asked employees, volunteers, international staff, members, teachers and private donors to indicate which topics they felt it would be worthwhile to explore from this perspective. Five areas emerged from the survey, and are examined in detail within the report: stability of donations; perception and distinctive characteristics of the organisation; independence in decision-making; financial and economic development and diversification of income; advocacy towards public opinion and institutions.
Our wish for the next 25 years? To be able to continue doing even more, in respect of rights and the environment, together.