The Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health (CIGH) has joined the World Health Organization’s Acute Care Action Network (ACAN) as a participating organization.

ACAN was established following adoption of the 2023 World Health Assembly Emergency, Critical and Operative Care (ECO) Resolution, a landmark global health framework recognizing emergency care, critical care, anesthesia, and surgical systems as essential, interconnected components of resilient health systems.

Through participation in ACAN, CIGH now joins an international network of institutions, ministries of health, professional societies, implementation leaders, and global partners working to strengthen acute care systems worldwide.

“Several of us at Stanford have been engaged in this work for years. Faculty members from the departments of anesthesiology, emergency medicine, surgery, obstetrics, and many others have been using WHO tools to advance and improve acute care globally,” said Ana Maria Crawford, MD, MSc, director of Global Engagement Strategy in Stanford Medicine’s Department Anesthesiology & Critical Care Medicine.

“Joining ACAN brings visibility to these efforts but also creates an opportunity for Stanford to help shape how WHO emergency, critical, and operative care frameworks are implemented, evaluated, and scaled across diverse health systems. We now have the ability to help generate the implementation science and operational models needed to turn global policy into measurable patient impact,” she said.

Discussions at the World Health Assembly repeatedly emphasized that sustainable progress in global acute care will depend not only on policy development, but on practical implementation, measurement, and systems integration across diverse healthcare settings.

This engagement positions Stanford to contribute clinical expertise as well as leadership in:

Led through Stanford’s growing global perioperative, emergency, and critical care engagement efforts, participation in ACAN creates new opportunities for Stanford faculty, trainees, and collaborators to engage directly in the implementation and evaluation of WHO emergency, critical, and operative care tools across diverse health systems.

This marks a strategic step forward for global health practitioners at Stanford within the evolving global acute care landscape.

“While global health efforts have historically focused heavily on disease-specific initiatives, this resolution emphasizes strengthening the systems required to recognize and respond to time-sensitive illness and injury across all patient populations,” said Michele Barry, MD, director of the Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health.

This includes strengthening care not only at the point of emergency presentation, but throughout the hospital continuum where many critically ill patients receive care outside traditional ICU settings.

Stanford’s participation aligns closely with ongoing institutional efforts to advance integrated perioperative and critical care systems through innovation, implementation science, education, and global partnerships.

Stanford’s global health community can help shape how WHO frameworks are translated into real-world implementation strategies capable of improving patient outcomes, strengthening workforce capacity, and supporting more resilient health systems across resource-variable settings.

This collaboration also reflects the increasing recognition that perioperative, anesthesia, emergency, and critical care clinicians play a central role in health system resilience, pandemic preparedness, disaster response, and the delivery of time-critical care globally.