Italian surgeon Gino Strada, a human rights activist and founder of an NGO providing life-saving medical care in war-torn regions, has died aged 73. Strada's humanitarian organisation Emergency has set up hospitals from Rwanda to Yemen, treating more than 11 million people in 19 countries since it was founded in 1994. On Friday his daughter, Cecilia Strada, tweeted: “Friends, my dad #GinoStrada is no more.’’

 The charity announced: “Our beloved Gino died this morning. He was founder, surgeon, executive director, the soul of Emergency.” Born in Sesto San Giovanni, a suburb of Milan, on April 21, 1948, Strada earned his medical and surgical degree at Milan State University, specialising in emergency surgery. He then transferred to the US and worked for four years on heart and lung transplants at the medical centers of Stanford and Pittsburgh Universities.

He also trained at Groote Schuur Hospital in Capetown, South Africa. Starting in 1988, Strada then worked with the International Red Cross in Pakistan, Ethiopia, Thailand, Afghanistan, Peru, Djibouti, Somalia and Bosnia. In 1994, he established Emergency together with his wife, Teresa Sarti, and friends and colleagues. The organisation sought to provide free, quality healthcare for people injured in conflict.

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