Overview
The WHO Acute Care Action Network (ACAN) is a global alliance of key stakeholders committed to saving millions of lives by advancing acute care through collaboration to meet the mandate of WHA 76.2 resolution. ACAN was established with a strategic collaboration and support from the Laerdal Foundation and American Heart Association.
ACAN participant organizations work across primary, emergency, critical and operative care and have a shared objective of strengthening acute care delivery in low- and middle-income countries through dissemination, implementation and evaluation of WHO tools and resources. Taking a strategic approach to integration across the continuum of care, allows countries to effectively address key high burden conditions such as injury, sepsis, complication of childbirth (maternal and neonatal) and acute exacerbations of NCDs.
The operational priorities for ACAN for 2025 - 2026:
- Strengthening acute care services: Expand implementation of the WHO acute care resources
- Empowering communities: Implement community first aid response programs and study care seeking behaviour
- Enhancing access: Prioritize and assign acute care services to each level of the health system
- Improving quality: Support clinical quality improvement
- Informing action: Assess and plan at system, pathway and facility level
The network will regularly convene participant organizations to coordinate implementation and impact evaluation activities, share lessons learned and support advocacy across the acute care continuum. ACAN will maintain a small-scale grant distribution mechanism to support efforts of champions in low-income countries.
Become an ACAN participant organization
If your organization is interested in coordination and amplification of acute care services, please click the link below.
WHO Chief Nursing Office BEC 25x25 campaign and ACAN
Announced by the WHO Director General, the Office of the Chief Nurse has launched a campaign to amplify WHO Basic Emergency Care (BEC) training to nurses around the world by initiating or expanding efforts in 25 countries in 2024-25.
BEC 25 x 25 has been selected as a core WHO 75th anniversary campaign and is central to the mandate of WHA Resolution 76.2 on integrated emergency, critical and operative care. As such, the campaign is an early priority for ACAN and the associated ECO Global Strategy and Action Plan called for at Executive Board 154.