Fiji's Emergency Medical Assistance Team (FEMAT) celebrates maintaining its status as a WHO-classified Type 1 Fixed Emergency Medical Team (EMT). Having achieved classification in 2019, FEMAT demonstrated its continued compliance with global standards, showing that the team remains capable of providing medical surge support and quality emergency care during a disaster outbreak. Reclassifications are undertaken every 5 years after initial attainment to confirm continued alignment with WHO’s EMT principles and minimum standards. The reclassification was confirmed after two days of intense evaluation by a team of experts from WHO and peer-reviewers from the Australian Medical Assistance Team (AUSMAT) and the New Zealand Medical Assistance Team (NZMAT), both of which are also WHO-classified EMTs.
WHO has actively supported FEMAT since it was first launched in 2016. The Organization’s work to establish and continuously strengthen EMT capacity in the Pacific is funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade (DFAT) and the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade (MFAT). Pacific EMTs also receive technical support from critical partners in the region, including Australia’s National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre (NCCTRC), and peer EMTs. FEMAT has extensive health emergency response experience. The team deployed in response to Tropical Cyclones Sarai (2019) and Harold (2020), had both national and international activations during the COVID-19 pandemic, and recently deployed to Vanuatu to care for patients following the December 2024 earthquake.
“Ensuring that Fiji continues to be able to deploy FEMAT, with its trained and equipped health emergency responders, to outbreaks or emergency events, and particularly in support of our Pacific neighbours, reflects our commitment to advancing health security in the Region. The Fiji Government through the Ministry of Health & Medical Services extend our sincere appreciation to the World Health Organization and other benevolent benefactors for their steadfast support of the Emergency Medical Team (EMT) initiative in Fiji and the Pacific,” said Minister for Health & Medical Services Honourable Dr Ratu Atonio Lalabalavu.
The Western Pacific Region hosts 16 of 53 internationally classified EMTs. National or international teams have been developed in nearly every Member State across the Region, from Mongolia in the far north to New Zealand in the south, and in both the largest and smallest countries. WHO’s EMT Classification is a quality assurance mechanism, using external peer review to assess compliance with international principles and standards. The process ensures that EMTs are composed of trained team members, have appropriate equipment, are fully self-sufficient, and are well-integrated within national health systems when deployed for emergency response.
This mechanism enables safe and high-quality medical care to be provided during public health emergencies. Members of classified EMTs form an integral part of the global health emergency workforce, comprising a network of trained and equipped emergency responders that can surge when required and requested by affected countries. The EMT Initiative aligns with global efforts to standardize quality and enhance interoperability between national, regional, and global emergency workforce capacities.
EMT classification advances WHO’s Global Health Emergency Corps (GHEC) vision of a trained health emergency workforce centered in countries and coordinated regionally, as well as globally. GHEC provides a uniformly trained and globally connected emergency workforce corps that can effectively respond, as one cohesive unit, during a health emergency. Through the GHEC, collaborations between surge capacities – including EMTs, rapid response teams and other emergency response networks such as the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) – help ensure that no country or area is overwhelmed by emerging health threats.
"We are proud to have 12 Pacific island countries with emergency medical teams that bolster national health emergency response capabilities. FEMAT’s EMT classification means that it can also deploy internationally. Any country can request support and access the global trusted networks of emergency responders across borders, if required. I am glad that FEMAT maintains their classification so that they continue playing a critical regional role sharing expertise, having already supported Pacific neighbours like Tuvalu and Vanuatu in times of need,” said Dr Mark Jacobs, WHO Representative to the South Pacific and the Director of Pacific Technical Support.
Media Contacts
Dr Nancy Wong
Communications for Partnerships Officer
WHO Representative Office for the South Pacific and the Division of Pacific Technical Support
Email: nwong@who.int