In 2008, a BBC World Service Trust policy briefing argued that people affected by earthquakes, floods or other emergencies often lacked the information they needed to survive and that this only added to their stress and anxiety. Left in the Dark: the unmet need for information in humanitarian emergencies maintained that humanitarian agencies were increasingly effective and coordinated in getting food, water, shelter and medical help to people affected by disasters, but were neglecting the need to get often life-saving information to them.
Unquestionably, the biggest single change in the communications sector since the 2008 Left in the Dark paper has been the explosion in access to communications technology among communities affected by disaster. As a result, this is the focus of this paper.
Estrella Lasry, Tropical Advisor to MSF, on measures taken by the organisation to predict and prevent malaria outbreaks in emergency situations.
The earthquake that struck Haiti in January 2010 caused 1.5 million people to be displaced to temporary camps. The Haitian Ministry of Public Health and Population and global immunization partners developed a plan to deliver vaccines to those residing in these camps. A strategy was needed to determine whether the immunization targets set for the campaign were achieved. Following the vaccination campaign, staff from the Ministry of Public Health and Population interviewed convenience samples of households – in specific predetermined locations in each of the camps — regarding receipt of the emergency vaccinations.
Rapid monitoring was implemented in camps located in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. Camps that housed more than 5000 people were monitored first. By the end of March 2010, 72 (23%) of the 310 vaccinated camps had been monitored. Rapid monitoring was only marginally beneficial in achieving immunization targets in the temporary camps in Port-au-Prince.
The training manual has two parts. Part 1 covers ethical issues in research and surveillance, such as conflicts that might arise between the common good and individual autonomy, ethics oversight and publication ethics. Part 2 covers patient care, including triage, standards of care and the professional duties of healthcare workers in emergencies.The teaching resources are modular, comprising seven core competences and 26 learning objectives, each with a dedicated module.
The modules are based on various types of instruction and activities (e.g. case study, lecture, group discussion, role play, video) to meet the learning objective. Slide sets were prepared for the lectures under each learning objective and summary slide sets for each core competence. At the end of the manual, you will find a compilation of all of the case studies used throughout the manual.
Every year hundreds of millions of people worldwide are affected by emergencies and disasters1 due to natural and man-made hazards. These events often have devastating impacts on human health, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths, and illness and injury for millions of others. They damage health infrastructure, disrupt health systems, and severely affect the delivery of health services.
A single disaster can set back development gains by many years, and prevent countries from reaching a range of health targets. The purpose of this document is to outline how WHO contributes to the reduction of death, illness and disability from emergencies while promoting the wellbeing and dignity of those affected.
