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OBJECTIVES The aims of the study were to assess lessons learned on patient safety in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries and to assess whether they are applied or can be applied to the humanitarian medicine. METHODS This is (a) a 2013-2018 rapid literature review of reviews and systematic reviews articles (PubMed database) on "patient safety" and "medical error" to look for lessons learned regarding patient safety in OECD countries and (b) a rapid literature review (PubMed and Embase databases) on "humanitarian medicine" and "patient safety," from their creation to 2018, to find any articles related to patient safety in humanitarian medicine. In both reviews were excluded articles specifically related to one device, disease, or medical act. These reviews were complemented by a Google search. RESULTS Of the 245 references retrieved, 104 met the inclusion criteria. Of 308 references, 39 respected the inclusion criteria. In OECD countries, patient safety comprises correlated measures taken at three levels. The micro level focuses on individual staff involved in healthcare provision or management; the meso level focuses on medical institutions; the macro level focuses on national healthcare systems. Only one reference mentioned the implementation of a medical error reporting and analysis system in medical humanitarian organization. CONCLUSIONS The adoption of strategies and a culture of safety will need to be adapted to address the variety of intervention contexts and to respond first to the fears and expectations of humanitarian staff. Medical humanitarian organizations, in the absence of an overarching authority for the sector, have a major responsibility in the development of a general patient safety policy applicable in all their operations.

This study discusses the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) role in protecting and assisting victims of the Libyan revolution in 2011. The purpose of this study is to explore more about the role of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) in protecting and assisting victims of war as one step on a humanitarian mission. The author use d the non-government organizations (NGOs) and humanitarian action concepts . The author's research method to analyze this study wa s a descriptive method through a literature review. Based on research done, the author found that the revolution in Libya in 2011 was one of the effects of the Arab Spring in the Middle East region. T he author also found that the ICRC carried out its humanitarian missions by providing food, water, medical supplies, medical equipment, and clothing.

Humanitarian action, in the broad sense, including global outreach missions by ENT physicians, has been effective for many years. These volunteer missions have not had any specific regulatory framework, be it medical, social or above all ethical. The testimony of ENT physicians in certain "recipient" countries, in particular during the 2017 Paris Congress of the International Federation of Otorhinolaryngological Societies (IFOS), revealed the importance of adequate coordination between "provider" and "recipient" teams. Several ethical reports have been made, but few specifically focused on ENT outreach. The present review is based on feedback from several missions given to the French Society of OtoRhinoLaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery (SFORL) and IFOS, and on a review of the literature. A specific charter of global outreach and humanitarian missions in ENT has been drawn up. This review is essential for optimizing the sharing of knowledge and training in otorhinolaryngology across the world while respecting mandatory sociocultural and ethical rules.

BackgroundHumanitarian non-governmental organizations provide assistance to communities affected by war, disaster and epidemic. A primary focus of healthcare provision by these organizations is saving lives; however, curative care will not be sufficient, appropriate, or available for some patients. In these instances, palliative care approaches to ease suffering and promote dignity are needed. Though several recent initiatives have increased the probability of palliative care being included in humanitarian healthcare response, palliative care remains minimally integrated in humanitarian health projects.MethodsWe conducted a qualitative study using interpretive description methodology to investigate humanitarian policy-makers’ and health care professionals’ experiences and perceptions of palliative care during humanitarian crises. In this article, we report on the analysis of in-depth interviews with 24 participants related to their perceptions of obstacles to providing palliative care in humanitarian crises, and opportunities for overcoming these obstacles. Among the participants, 23 had experience as humanitarian health professionals, and 12 had experience with policy development and organizational decision-making.ResultsParticipants discussed various obstacles to the provision of palliative care in humanitarian crises. More prominent obstacles were linked to the life-saving ethos of humanitarian organizations, priority setting of scarce resources, institutional and donor funding, availability of guidance and expertise in palliative care, access to medication, and cultural specificity around death and dying. Less prominent obstacles related to continuity of care after project closure, equity, security concerns, and terminology.ConclusionOpportunities exist for overcoming the obstacles to providing palliative care in humanitarian crises. Doing so is necessary to ensure that humanitarian healthcare can fulfill its objectives not only of saving lives, but also of alleviating suffering and promoting dignity of individuals who are ill or injured during a humanitarian crises, including persons who are dying or likely to die.

Cash transfers have changed the way the humanitarian sector delivers assistance, and at the same time, digitalization is changing the way our world works in fundamental ways. The digitalization of cash means that the simple click of a button can put money in the hands of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people within minutes. Digital payments have been a game changer, opening the door to faster and more efficient delivery of life-saving assistance. Although physical currency will not disappear with the rise of digital payments, it is essential to balance the benefits of these digital processes with the risks. As humanitarians, we need to articulate what “do no harm” means in the digital age, applying this equally to the way we use digital payments to support people affected by armed conflicts and other situations of violence.

From August 2017 to September 2018, IOM (International Organization for Migration) experimented for the first time, participatory video methodology integrated in the activities of its Global Migration Film Festival (GMFF). The main purpose was to innovate and enable communities in the frontlines of displacement and different humanitarian action settings into creating through film their own narratives with their own hands and style. Their videos would then integrate the film festival that traditionally curates professionally produced movies. Amongst the six countries and areas with displaced population reached by the project is Roraima, Brazil, that has been hosting thousands of Venezuelans that crossed the Brazilian border fleeing from degrading living conditions. In May 2018 the authors spent a week at Pintolândia Indigenous Shelter located in the capital Boa Vista, facilitating displaced Venezuelans of the ethical groups of Warao and Eñepas make their own films to be screened locally and around the world. Furthermore, the facilitators would observe the potential benefits of the method to generate some level of social cohesion and integration between the participating displaced communities that came from different regions of Venezuela.

There is an increasing acknowledgement among policymakers and private-sector partners that we cannot overcome the challenges of our time without harnessing the potential of emerging technol...

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to open up new lines of research into the engagement of corporations during humanitarian crises. The paper provides an introduction to core concepts in the delivery of humanitarian assistance, as well as a comprehensive overview of when, why, how, and to what effect corporations engage in humanitarian action.Design/methodology/approach: Building on extant literature and policy reports, the paper synthesizes concepts and insights to map the interdisciplinary field of research on corporate engagement in humanitarian action.Findings: The paper systematically reviews and describes different dimensions of corporate engagement for delivering humanitarian action and explains key complications that inspire new research questions. In particular, the paper highlights challenges associated with getting corporations to engage in humanitarian action; challenges associated with ensuring effective corporate engagement; and challenges associated with ensuring ethical engagement.Originality/value: By raising new questions about corporate engagement in humanitarian action, this paper develops an original and positive research agenda for international business, management research, and related fields.

Language is a huge resource, but one to which the humanitarian sector has been largely blind. Communicating in the languages of crisis-affected people is essential to making humanitarian action more inclusive, effective, and accountable. Language technology can help achieve that by changing the communication power dynamic. When a humanitarian emergency happens, remote language support and language technology are critical to help affected people make themselves heard and get the information they need. What has Translators without Borders (TWB)1 learned so far from addressing language barriers in emergencies, and what needs to happen now?

From 2014 to 2020 Oxfam embedded an Emergency Response Fund (ERF) in its multiyear disaster risk reduction programs in Asia-Pacific and Central America. The Oxfam ERF was designed as a flexible funding mechanism to prioritize small-scale, under-the-radar, and forgotten emergencies and help local actors respond to and mitigate the impacts of disasters in their communities. ERF grants totaling US$1.9 million were disbursed and supported 24 small-scale responses led by 15 local organizations in nine countries. The ERF, through the support of a donor who values local leadership, helped local actors shape humanitarian responses, and the simplicity of fund administration unlocked creativity and delivered speed without compromising the quality and accountability of humanitarian aid.

UN Global Pulse is recognized today worldwide as centre of excellence on the use of big data and artificial intelligence for the public good. It is a flagship innovation initiative on big data under the Executive Office of the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General that was launched with the mission to accelerate the discovery, development and scaled adoption of big data innovation for sustainable development practice and humanitarian action.

The digital transformation has affected every aspect of human being by bringing fundamental changes in technology, culture, operations, and principles of creating new products and services in the framework of economic globalization and innovations. Humanitarian action has not been left out either as the implementation of digital solutions provides large-scale opportunities to enhance the performance of humanitarian practices and, as a result, the capability to save more lives of people affected by armed conflicts or disasters, migrants, and refugees. In this commentary, we are focused on such a vulnerable subject as human rights, freedoms, and dignity protection in the digital domain of humanitarian assistance since it is inextricably linked to risks and threats of being a member of the digital world. We consider and synthesize the experience of parties involved into the valuable work on humanitarian action and highlight the lessons from the past as well as decisions taken in the present to fundamentally update and adapt humanitarian assistance to confidently meet challenges while protecting its fundamental principles and add value to humanitarian missions.

Attempts to consolidate humanitarian actors into a humanitarian system are occurring simultaneously with efforts to generate greater coherence between humanitarian action and development and peace-building. Whether a strengthened humanitarian system can adhere to the humanitarian principles while engaging in post-conflict societal reconstruction is unclear. This would require humanitarian action to address the victimhood mentality when dealing with affected populations and to seek out capacities as well as needs. In so doing the inherent political nature of humanitarian action and the manner in which it is prone to instrumentalization needs to be recognized. This would assist in generating the sensitivity required in order to ensure that humanitarian action ultimately supports rather than undermines reconciliation and the building of democratic institutions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Detainees may be subjected to torture and extra-judicial execution by State actors and terrorists. But, the pathology of torture has not been well-described. This is due to the lack of autopsies performed on victims of torture, mostly due to the disposal of the bodies of the victims by their torturers. On this basis, the cause of death of detainees subjected to torture is often a matter of speculation or remains obscure. This paper provides an overview of the pathology of torture based on the authour's experience with the autopsies of torture victims. At autopsy, many different types of inflicted injuries may be observed, often ranging in severity. However, three recurrent patterns of trauma that are the hallmarks of torture were recognized by the authour: (1) blunt impact trauma characterized by bruises, patterned injuries, and internal injuries; (2) electrical and thermal injuries; and (3) injuries from stress positions that occur from prolonged suspension. The most under-recognized form of fatal torture are the complications of stress positions related to suspension of the victim's body by the upper, or lower extremities. For example, prolonged suspension by reverse hanging (suspension of the victim's body by the wrists or forearms with the arms extended backward at the shoulder joint) can cause over-stretching and necrosis of the muscles of the shoulder, resulting in fatal myoglobinuric renal failure. It is essential that autopsies be performed on all detainees who die in custody, to determine if torture played a role in death. Furthermore, the true nature of the injuries sustained often remains obscure unless a musculocutaneous dissection is performed. Specifically, dissection of the back, limbs and the soles of the feet, as well as the shoulders and knees is essential to determine if specific forms of torture have been applied. This is especially true for fatal complications of stress positions. Seeking the truth about the medical consequences of fatal torture will raise awareness about torture-related injuries, assist in rehabilitation of torture survivors, and strengthen forensic humanitarian action.

This article analyzes multimodal genres of current online humanitarian discourse such as mission statements, annual reports and photo galleries to find how the construals of beneficiaries and humanitarian organizations align with the motives, values and emotional dispositions of prospective donors. The discursive reduction of distance between the donor and the beneficiary is likely to produce solicitation effects and enable self-legitimization. First, based on extant literature, the article develops a method to account for the pragmatic operations of textual ‘proximization’ and visually simulated ‘co-presence’ in humanitarian communication. Then it applies it to a sample of multimodal online messages issued by a prominent Polish humanitarian organization that distributes aid to communities in Africa or Asia. Analysis shows that Polish Humanitarian Action's mission statements and annual reports include strategic construals of space, quantity and transfer of aid that legitimize the organization's activities and their underlying axiological motivations. The texts also reproduce us/them differences to proximize the other that has been ‘Westernized.’ Meanwhile, the photo-galleries manufacture co-presence to enhance the axiological and affective investments in solidarity with the distant beneficiary. The case study offers a preliminary insight into alignment and distance-crossing maneuvers in online appeals that seek to project ‘proper distance’ between the donors and beneficiaries.

Humanitarian forensic action is the application of the knowledge and skills of forensic medicine and science to humanitarian action, especially following conflicts or disasters. It has its early roots in the experience of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team and that of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo in Argentina, is moulded by International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law and was developed by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Having demonstrated its worth, this new field of application of forensic medicine and science needs further development, integration and research.

Drinking water supply is at the core of both, humanitarian action in times of crisis, as well as national policies for regular and emergency supply. In countries with a continuous water supply, the population mostly relies ingenuously on the permanent availability of tap water due to high supply standards. In case of a disruption in the drinking water infrastructure, minimum supply standards become important for emergency management during disasters. However, wider recognition of this issue is still lacking, particularly in countries facing comparably fewer disruptions. Several international agencies provide guideline values for minimum water provision standards in case of a disaster. Acknowledging that these minimum standards were developed for humanitarian assistance, it remains to be analyzed whether these standards apply to disaster management in countries with high supply standards. Based on a comprehensive literature review of scientific publications and humanitarian guidelines, as well as policies from selected countries, current processes, contents, and shortcomings of emergency water supply planning are assessed. To close the identified gaps, this paper flags potential improvements for emergency water supply planning and identifies future fields of research.

French Abstract: L’action humanitaire est mise au defi de s’adapter et de trouver ses modalites de fonctionnement face a l’apparition ou a l’accroissement de la participation aux combats de certains acteurs sur le theâtre des hostilites. Definissant le concept d’acteurs comme comprenant aussi bien entites humaines et non-humaines, cette contribution explore les consequences de la presence croissante de societes militaires privees, d’une part, et des drones de combat, d’autre part, sur la delivrance de l’aide humanitaire sur le terrain. Elle montre comment et a quel point la presence de ces acteurs, la conduite de la guerre et les categories juridiques interagissent et se remodelent entre elles. Il est suggere que cette relation dialectique affecte la delivrance de l’aide humanitaire. De la confusion des fonctions et statuts juridiques creee par le recours accru aux SMP aux fonctions hybrides, jusqu’a l’utilisation des drones de telle maniere que les acteurs humanitaires hesitent a delivrer leur aide, mais aussi de telle maniere que des dommages aux civils de nouvelle nature emergent (appelant une aide humanitaire, elle aussi, de nature nouvelle) cette contribution scrute deux types de problemes contemporains auxquels l’aide humanitaire doit faire face. English Abstract: Humanitarian action is challenged by the emergence and increased presence of new actors on the battlefield. Considering actors as including both human and non-human entities, this contribution explores the different impacts that increased presence of private military companies (PMCs) on the one hand, and combat drones on the other hand, have on the delivery of humanitarian action. The contribution shows how and to what extent the presence of these actors, the conduct of warfare and legal categories reshape one another. I argue that this dialectical relationship and intertwined phenomena have implications for humanitarian action delivery. From the confusion of functions and legal status created by the increased recourse to hybrid PMCs, to the use of drones in such ways that humanitarian actors refrain from delivering their assistance, but also in such ways that new types of civilian harms emerge, calling for humanitarian aid of different nature, this contribution thus scrutinizes two sets of contemporary problems that humanitarian action has to face.

New technological advances in areas such as digital information, algorithmic forensic data analysis, autonomous surveillance vehicles, advanced robotics, and multispectral sensors (sometimes all working together) can help avert war, introduce more effective peacekeeping and peacemaking initiatives, lessen the impact of conflict on innocent people, and help rebuild war-torn states. When international humanitarian action becomes urgent, by way of knowledge gained through such technologies, then those same peace applications can be used to reduce harmful forms of intervention and to ensure that enforcers are abiding by international law and UN guidance. An ethical failure occurs when such technologies exist to save lives, reduce risks, and secure peace, but are not employed.

The cat is out of the bag—we are running out of money to pay for the world’s humanitarian needs. Fortunately, it is now in front of us, refusing to be ignored. For that we have United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to thank, as it was his decision to appoint the High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing, tasked with finding solutions to the challenge of funding humanitarian action.

Critical care medicine is far from the first medical field to come to mind when humanitarian action is mentioned, yet both critical care and humanitarian action share a fundamental purpose to save the lives and ease the suffering of people caught in acute crises. Critically ill children and adults will be present regardless of resource limitations and irrespective of geography, regional or cultural contexts, insecurity, or socioeconomic status, and they may be even more prevalent in a humanitarian crisis. Critical care is not limited to the walls of a hospital, and all hospitals will have critically ill patients regardless of designating a specific ward an ICU. Regular and consistent consideration of critical care principles in humanitarian settings provides crucial guidance to intensivists and nonintensivists alike. A multidisciplinary, systematic approach to patient care that encourages critical thinking, checklists that encourage communication among team members, and context-specific critical care rapid response teams are examples of critical care constructs that can provide high-quality critical care in all environments. Promoting critical care principles conveys the message that critical care is an integral part of health care and should be accessible to all, no matter the setting. These principles can be effectively adopted in humanitarian settings by normalizing them to everyday clinical practice. Equally, core humanitarian principles—dignity, accountability, impartiality, neutrality—can be applied to critical care. Applying principles of critical care in a context-specific manner and applying humanitarian principles to critical care can improve the quality of patient care and transcend barriers to resource limitations.

Tracing transformations in the way that humanitarian organizations respond to insecurity in the field, this article examines the bureaucratization and professionalization of security in relation to intraorganizational struggles between humanitarian professionals. Whereas some advocate for the triumph of remoteness and bunkerization as organizing principles of humanitarian action, others challenge the imposition of security as a humanitarian logic of practice through acts of nonconformity. These tensions are illustrative of professional struggles over how to do and think humanitarian action. In articulating a sociological and transversal reading, this article points to the heterogeneity and divisions structuring the humanitarian space. To provide empirical insights into the bureaucratic work practices of headquarters professionals and the everyday practices of frontline humanitarian professionals, this article draws upon an analysis of humanitarian security manuals, interviews with humanitarian professionals, and field observations in Port-au-Prince. The article sheds light on the development of the humanitarian profession and on the novelty of the work practices of humanitarian security professionals, while contributing to debates on bunkerization and the literature on transnational professionals.

The objectives and operational norms of public health are explicitly and strongly based on bio-ethical principles, involving many dilemmas. To a great extent, these principles remain the same when dealing with public health in humanitarian action (PHHA), but their application may involve even more excruciatingly difficult decisions and dilemmas. This chapter reflects on what those principles and dilemmas are, and how they have changed over time. It describes how the global health situation has changed dramatically over the last decades, and what implications that has for health in emergency situations. It also addresses the changing nature of disasters, including more protracted emergencies involving long term displacement, fragile contexts as well as the effect on the capacity of health systems as they are under increasing pressure and attack. Finally, it notes some of the major improvements in humanitarian response, including development of widely accepted guidelines and coordination mechanisms, and how this has contributed to improvements in saving lives and preventing morbidity.

Despite a principled commitment to assist people in need equally, the allocation of humanitarian assistance across conflict and post-conflict states shows remarkable variation that is not easily explained by differences in the level of recipient-need. This paper attempts to explain these “forgotten conflicts“ by analyzing the determinants of humanitarian aid to civil war and post-civil war states. Using cross-national panel data on humanitarian aid provisions, I show that the most important determinants of international humanitarian assistance are not always demand-side factors measuring humanitarian need – as the principals of humanitarian action would dictate – but often strategic factors that reflect donors’ political interests in providing humanitarian assistance. Although humanitarian aid to ongoing civil wars appears to be substantially more humanitarian than strategic in its allocation, humanitarian aid provided to post-conflict states in the aftermath of civil war tends to go to conflicts ...

Based on a long-term fieldwork in Tangier and the Spanish-Moroccan border, this paper deals with the outsourcing of the Moroccan border, with an emphasis on the experience of the children and youngsters crossing borders in their respective migratory itineraries. After the 2004 The Hague Programme, the delocalization of border control started to be present in European migratory policies though the progressive integration of third countries in control tasks. To analyze the impacts of these policies, the papers brings the reader to Bujalef, a «waiting» suburb in the periphery of Tangier —understood as the «second-to-last border»—, where a violent eviction of Sub-Saharan immigrants took place in July of 2015. In this context, the author exposes the three main control policies at work: everyday violence —expressed in the lack of judicial security and in repression—; random mobility —a logical response to outsourcing border control model—; and compassion —intrinsic to the structure of humanitarian action. This paper reinforces the idea that respect for Human Rights does not fit well with border delocalization.Basándose en un trabajo de campo de larga duración en Tánger y la frontera entre España y Marruecos, este artículo aborda el efecto de la externalización de la frontera en Marruecos, con un énfasis especial en la experiencia de los niños y jóvenes que atraviesan fronteras en sus proyectos migratorios. A partir del Programa de La Haya de 2004, la deslocalización del control fronterizo empieza a estar presente en la política europea mediante la integración progresiva de terceros países en las tareas de control. Para analizar todos estos procesos, el artículo nos traslada a Bujalef, un barrio «de espera» de la periferia de Tánger —conceptualizado como «penúltima frontera »— donde tuvo lugar un violento desalojo de inmigrantes subsaharianos en julio de 2015. En este contexto, la autora expone las tres lógicas de gobierno del control fronterizo: la violencia cotidiana —expresada en la falta de seguridad jurídica y la represión—, la movilidad aleatoria —una respuesta lógica al control externalizado—, y la compasión —imbricada en la estructura de la acción humanitaria. El trabajo refuerza la idea de que el respeto a los derechos humanos no es una idea que corra paralela a deslocalización fronteriza.

This article focuses on the role of the International Committee of the Red Cross (I.C.R.C.) in the Rif War (Morocco, 1921–6) and places humanitarian action in three inter-related contexts: the complexity of the international scenario after the First World War, the institutional architecture of the Red Cross and the developments in international humanitarian law. Challenging simplistic approaches to an otherwise historically overlooked affair, the article argues that the rather undignified role of the I.C.R.C. during the conflict was a result both of Eurocentric assumptions and international manipulation.

Over the past 25 years, Thomas G. Weiss has made a pivotal contribution to the understanding of, and policy making around, humanitarian action. These two books showcase his unique incisive style, p...

Is the humanitarian aid system doing the right things? And, is it doing the right things right? Can data help increase the effectiveness of humanitarian aid? On the face of it, these questions seem redundant. One would assume that improved data would surely result in more effective humanitarian aid delivery. The answer, however, is “maybe” at best: more data does not always translate into better humanitarian action or quality of care.

Humanitarian action has never reached so many people in so many places. Around the world, more actors than ever are involved in delivering life-saving assistance and protection to people in need: from Governments, which bear the primary responsibility for providing assistance to their people, to international and national organizations and networks, to businesses and private foundations.

Interacting with knowledge in a timely fashion is critical for the success of humanitarian missions. At the same time, the places where humanitarian action is needed are often those where Internet connection is poor or not available at all, making digital knowledge access difficult. In this paper, we propose a novel knowledge delivery model that relies on a peer-to-peer middleware and uses low-cost computers for local knowledge replication. We have developed a system implementing the model and evaluated it during eight deployments in Medecins Sans Frontieres missions. The evaluation demonstrated knowledge delivery abilities of the system and its usefulness for the field staff.

espanolObjetivo: analizar la incidencia de las emergencias complejas e identificar los factores de riesgo asociados. Metodo: revision narrativa a partir de la busqueda bibliografica de la literatura de articulos originales, publicados en espanol o ingles, en el periodo 1986-2016, en las bases de datos de Medline, PubMed, MEDES-MEDicina y ReliefWeb. La decision de limitar la busqueda a ese periodo se baso en abarcar el inicio del concepto de “emergencia humanitaria compleja”, a partir de 1990, hasta la actualidad. Se establecieron como criterios de inclusion los estudios originales, cualitativos y cuantitativos, publicados en revistas cientificas sobre enfermedades transmisibles en situaciones de emergencia compleja, enfermedades con mayor potencial endemico en situaciones de emergencia compleja, factores de riesgo en la emergencia compleja, factores de prevencion de enfermedades transmisibles y mortalidad y morbilidad en emergencia compleja. Se utilizo la definicion de emergencia compleja otorgada por el Diccionario de Accion Humanitaria y Cooperacion al Desarrollo. Resultados: se incluyeron 21 articulos. El grupo de edad mas afectado esta entre 0-15 anos. Entre el 60 y el 90% de las muertes se atribuye a infecciones respiratorias agudas, diarrea, sarampion y paludismo. El sarampion, meningitis y colera han ido descendiendo en cifras de mortalidad en la ultima decada. Respecto al paludismo, permanece estancado y la fiebre amarilla destaca por haber sufrido un aumento debido a la interrupcion de campanas de vacunacion. Entre los factores que aumentan la susceptibilidad a contraer este tipo de enfermedades destaca la malnutricion. Conclusiones: el exceso de morbimortalidad por enfermedades transmisibles en emergencias complejas es, en gran medida, evitable si las intervenciones apropiadas estan disponibles. EnglishObjective: to analyze the incidence of complex emergencies and identify the associated risk factors. Method: a narrative review based on the bibliographic search of original articles, published in Spanish or English, during the 1986-2016 period, in the Medline, PubMed, MEDES-MEDicina and ReliefWeb databases. The decision to limit the search to this period was based on including the start of the “complex humanitarian emergency” concept, from 1990 until current times. The inclusion criteria established were the original qualitative and quantitative studies published in scientific journals about transmissible diseases in complex emergencies, those diseases with higher endemic potential in complex emergency situations, risk factors in complex emergencies, factors for prevention of transmissible diseases and mortality and morbidity in complex emergencies. The definition of complex emergency used was the one issued by the “Diccionario de Accion Humanitaria y Cooperacion al Desarrollo” (Dictionary for Humanitarian Action and Development Cooperation). Results: twenty-one (21) articles were included. The age range most affected was between 0 and 15 year-old; 60 and 90% of deaths were attributed to acute respiratory infections, diarrhoea, measles and malaria. The mortality figures for measles, meningitis and cholera have been gradually reduced during the past decade. Malaria remains stable, and the increase in yellow fever must be highlighted due to the interruption of vaccination campaigns. Malnutrition is one of the main factors increasing the predisposition to the development of this type of diseases. Conclusions: the excess of morbimortality caused by transmissible diseases in complex emergencies can be avoided to a high extent if the adequate interventions are available.

Since the publication of the ALNAP study on innovation in international humanitarian action in 2009, innovation has emerged as a central vehicle for change in the humanitarian sector. As the field of humanitarian innovation expands and matures, there is an increasingly vocal expectation that “now is the time to deliver.” Navigating optimistic claims about the role and relevance of humanitarian innovation as a vehicle of change—and the reverse inclination to dismiss humanitarian innovation as a neoliberal hype—this review article sets out to get a better sense of the expectations concerning humanitarian innovation as a theory of change: exactly what do actors in the humanitarian sector expect innovation to deliver, how, and why does it matter?

In 2015, more than 65.3 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide due to conflict, disaster and insecurity, with 40.8 million people internally displaced within their own countries. This chapter explores what forced migration means from an anthropological perspective, both within the framework of humanitarian action, as well as from the perspective of affected communities.

Summary An unprecedented number of humanitarian emergencies of large magnitude and duration is causing the largest number of people in a generation to be forcibly displaced. Yet the existing humanitarian system was created for a different time and is no longer fit for purpose. On the basis of lessons learned from recent crises, particularly the Syrian conflict and the Ebola epidemic, I recommend four sets of actions that would make the humanitarian system relevant for future public health responses: (1) operationalise the concept of centrality of protection; (2) integrate affected persons into national health systems by addressing the humanitarian–development nexus; (3) remake, do not simply revise, leadership and coordination; and (4) make interventions efficient, effective, and sustainable. For these recommendations to be implemented, governments, UN agencies, multilateral organisations, and international non-governmental organisations will need to put aside differences and relinquish authority, influence, and funding.

In Renee C. Fox’s 2014 book Doctors Without Borders: Humanitarian Quests, Impossible Dreams of Medecins San Frontieres , the author explores the ethos of the medical organization, shedding a candid light on its internal culture and its struggles to define and defend its conception of humanitarian action. Through blogs from field workers, numerous testimonies of staff, and extracts from internal gatherings, Doctors Without Borders reveals a side largely unknown to the public and rarely presented in bibliographies of humanitarianism. Rather than praise the heroism of aid workers or denounce the cynicism of a system that feeds on people’s suffering, Fox looks at the introspective nature of MSF’s world.

Local humanitarian leadership is built upon the premise that humanitarian action should be led by local humanitarian actors whenever possible, yet this research finds that secular humanitarian INGOs do not engage systematically with local faith actors in their local leadership work. Based primarily on interviews with humanitarian INGO staff, this research also found that neither secular nor faith-inspired international humanitarian organizations have a sufficient level of religious literacy to enable them to understand the religious dimensions of the contexts in which they work and to effectively navigate their engagement with local faith actors.

Natural disasters and complex emergencies affect large numbers of people annually. Communities affected are extremely vulnerable requiring immediate assistance. Humanitarian action seeks to address the main challenges of these populations focusing on health, food, shelter, water, sanitation, and protection. This article is an overview of the humanitarian response to complex emergencies and natural disasters.

International humanitarian aid played an important role in the Nigeria-Biafra War, 1967-70. Relief aid was organized under two major umbrella bodies — the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Joint Church Aid (JCA). The JCA received support from Catholic and Protestant churches while the ICRC, an established humanitarian agency, relied on donations from many governments as well as from the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF). This paper focuses on the formation of the JCA as a humanitarian organization and examines its efforts to provide health care for the war victims in Biafra. Though the JCA has not received adequate scholarly attention, its humanitarian aid in Biafra was the first of its kind in the developing world and involved the largest civilian airlift in history. As this paper argues, the JCA’s health care intervention in Biafra was restricted to minimal care because of a lack of essential medications, equipment, food, and epidemiological expertise. Despite these challenges, however, the JCA managed to provide basic health care to over ten million persons in Biafra during the war. Further, the organization succeeded in providing aid without creating long-term dependency.

The article presents the European Universities on Professionalisation on Humanitarian Action (EUPRHA) Project as an initiative that seeks to contribute to the professionalisation and quality assurance of the humanitarian sector. Its purpose is to explain the approach and the process leading to the development of the Humanitarian Action Qualifications Framework as an example of good practice for other sectors aiming at improving the recognition of qualifications as a precondition of academic and professional mobility. With this aim, it introduces the educational and humanitarian trends that led to this project: the move from transnational qualifications frameworks of which the European Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning (EQF) is the best example to sectoral qualifications frameworks and the increasing demand from the sector seeking to determine the competencies and required skills of a professional humanitarian aid worker. Based on the EQF and the Tuning methodology the framework will act as a translating device to make national and sectoral qualifications more readable and promote humanitarian workers’ and learners’ mobility between countries and organisations. It will facilitate inter-system transparency and recognition of (non-)formal and informal learning by linking occupations, skills, competences, and qualifications, thus benefiting the Humanitarian Sector as a whole.

Since 9/11, attention to Islamic migrant organizations within Western countries has grown. However, the humanitarian activities of these organizations have received only limited attention. Hence, it is not yet clear why these organizations engage in humanitarian crises, which specific role Islam plays in their humanitarian engagement and which factors influence the scope of their activities in humanitarian crises. This paper aims to address these research questions by using approaches from sociology of organizations and presenting three empirical case studies from Germany. Particularly, it argues that although all three case studies are active in humanitarian crises the scope of their activities differs due to their differing organizational characteristics, member interests and external expectations.

El debate sobre la vinculación entre la ayuda humanitaria, la rehabilitación pos desastre y la cooperación para el desarrollo, es el centro de análisis de este artículo. Se enmarca en la evolución de los enfoques teóricos, políticos y operativos; en los nuevos tipos de emergencias y en las lecciones aprendidas de las dos últimas décadas. La relación entre las emergencias y el desarrollo, ha llevado al debate (…) “sobre la necesidad de vincular la ayuda humanitaria y la cooperación para el desarrollo, de forma que sus objetivos se complementen y refuercen mutuamente. La expresión que ha dado nombre a estos debates ha sido la de Vinculación Ayuda de emergenciaRehabilitación-Desarrollo (VARD).” (Cortés, 2006) En la actualidad, es indiscutible la necesidad de trabajar sobre alternativas que reduzcan la frecuencia, intensidad e impacto que producen las emergencias; hacer a las personas, las familias y las economías menos sensibles, más resistentes y más capaces de recuperarse. De ahí la importancia de ir más allá de la parte teórica y llevar a la operatividad al Enfoque VARD, mediante el uso de herramientas ya existentes en la fase de emergencia como son los Clústers y metodologías estandarizadas aptas tanto para la fase de emergencia como para el desarrollo.

Nepal ranks 6th, 11th and 30th in the list of countries vulnerable in terms of risk from climate change, earthquake and flood respectively. Frequent multi-disasters in a difficult terrain makes disaster management a challenge, and up-to-date geo-information plays a critical role in proper disaster management. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) enables quicker geoinforma t ion collection compared to traditional surveying methods, hence leading to efficient disaster management. UAVs were introduced in Nepal in the aftermath of the April 2015 Earthquake. An unprecedented number of small and lightweight UAVs were flown over highly damaged areas and heritage sites by journalists and humanitarian responders to assist in immedia te rescue, relief, and reconstruction efforts. However, risks to national security by the unregula ted use of drones was realized by the Government of Nepal and the Ministry of Home Affairs, and hence they released a guideline that controlled the use of UAVs through a thoroughly difficult permission procedure. This vastly limited the use of drones in Nepal and increasing adoption of the technology for humanitarian causes also slowed down rapidly. However, increasing demand has recently led to a revised Drone Flight Guidelines 2075 that now provides authorit y to local governments to grant permissions through easier processes for lightweight drones thus encouraging good usages of drones. This paper attempts to identify, analyze and document the social applications of Drone technology in Nepal and highlights the specific use of Drones in post-earthquake reconstruction of damaged buildings, hydropower projects, landslide mapping, aerial surveillance during disasters, rescue efforts, delivery of medicines and health supplies in rural areas and many more. It also reflects the change in perception of the government towards drone technology.International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Supplementary Issue: 2019 Page: 19

Humanitarian action is a multi-dimensional phenomenon. Not only do several definitions of humanitarian action exist, but aid agencies also deliver aid in different ways. This diversity is linked to the continuously changing conditions under which aid is being provided. Humanitarian aid often takes place in complex emergencies in which different actors attempt to exploit it. This not only poses challenges for humanitarians, but also for academics. More research is needed to comprehend the complexity of humanitarian crises, for example, by considering local actors, more field research, and a better differentiated conception of crises. Last but not least, this is necessary to be able to discuss the connections between humanitarian action and peace. Both concepts are based on different normative ideals, and their concomitant goals are only compatible to a limited extent.

There has been greater discussion among humanitarians in recent years about the rise in the number of 'strong states', and the suggestion has been made that states are increasingly reasserting their sovereignty. This introduction to this special issue of Disasters on 'State Sovereignty and Humanitarian Action' contends that it is not states that have changed, but rather the international framework that surrounds humanitarian action. The latter has altered so substantially that a fundamental gap has developed between states and international humanitarian actors in terms of describing what sovereignty entails and how it is expressed. At the heart of this dilemma are the urgent needs of people caught up in crises, whose well-being becomes the contested ground on which states and humanitarian actors clash. This paper explores the current and historical dimensions of these shifts, and provides a conceptual overview for this special issue. Language: en

This introductory paper sets the stage for this special issue of Disasters on evidence-based action in humanitarian crises. It reviews definition(s) of evidence and it examines the different disciplinary and methodological approaches to collecting and analysing evidence. In humanitarian action, the need for evidence-based approaches sometimes is viewed in tension with a principled approach, often unnecessarily. Choosing appropriate research methods depends on the objectives of the researcher, in particular whether the research focuses on the intervention and/or the context and the length and complexity of the causal chains involved. The paper concludes by defining some trends in evidence-based approaches in crises: the move away from inputs and outputs of humanitarian action towards outcomes and impacts; the shift towards a higher degree of partnerships in research, and the participation of users and target groups; and the acceptance of a broad array of approaches to establish evidence.

A Software Engineering Capstone Service Learning project team at Fairfield University developed SimEx (Simulation Exercises on Humanitarian Crisis), a database driven web application for the JUHAN (Jesuits University Humanitarian Action Network) community to educate students on humanitarian actions and to enhance their knowledge on how to react at the time of a crisis. SimEx is accessible to anyone in the JUHAN community around the world and helps facilitate interaction among instructors, researchers, and student including sharing simulation exercise scenarios and providing students simulation exercises on humanitarian actions without any boundaries. SimEx also provides a discussion board to the JUHAN community to facilitate communication and idea sharing. SimEx was implemented in PHP with a MySQL database and several additional PHP plug-ins. In this paper, we describe the issues, process, and outcome of the collaborative service learning project between academia and community and discuss the future direction of SimEx.