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A Basic Course in Humanitarian Health Emergency and Relief: A Pilot Study from Saudi Arabia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 October 2019

Nidaa A. Bajow Open the ORCID record for Nidaa A. Bajow [Opens in a new window] ,
Yousef I. Alawad  and
Samer M. Aloraifi
Nidaa A. Bajow*
Affiliation:
Disaster Medicine Unit, Mohammad Bin Naïf Medical Center, King Fahd Security College, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Yousef I. Alawad
Affiliation:
King Fahad Medical City, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Samer M. Aloraifi
Affiliation:
Disaster Medicine Unit, Mohammad Bin Naïf Medical Center, King Fahd Security College, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
*
Correspondence: Nidaa A. Bajow, MBBS, PhD DM King Abdullah Quarter Street NO 17 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Background:

Political unrest in the Middle East heightens the possibility of catastrophe due to violent conflict and/or terrorist attacks. However, the disaster risk reduction strategy in the Saudi health care system appears to be a reactive approach focused more on flood hazards than other threats. Given the current unstable political situation in its neighboring countries and Saudi Arabia’s key role in providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to those affected by internal conflicts and wars, it is essential to develop a framework for training standards related to complex humanitarian disasters to provide the requisite skills and knowledge in a gradual manner, according to local context and international standards. This framework could also support the World Health Organization’s (WHO; Geneva, Switzerland) initiative for establishing a national disaster assistance team in Saudi Arabia.

Problem:

The main aim of this study is to provide Saudi health care providers with a competencies-based course in Basic Principles of Complex Humanitarian Emergency.

Methods:

The interactive, competencies-based course in Basic Principles of Complex Humanitarian Emergency was designed by five experts in disaster medicine and humanitarian relief in three stages, accordance to international standards and the local context. The course was piloted over five days at the Officers Club of the Ministry of Interior (MOI; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia). The 33 participants were from different health disciplines of the government sectors in-country. The participants completed the pre- and post-tests and attended three pilot workshops for disaster community awareness.

Results:

The overall knowledge scores were significantly higher in the post-test (62.9%) than the pre-test (44.2%). There were no significant differences in the pre- and post-knowledge scores for health care providers from the different government health disciplines. A 10-month, post-event survey demonstrated that participants were satisfied with their knowledge retention. Importantly, three of them (16.6%) had the opportunity to put this knowledge into practice in relation to humanitarian aid response.

Conclusion:

Delivering a competencies-based course in Basic Principles of Complex Humanitarian Emergency for health care providers can help improve their knowledge and skills for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, which is crucial for disaster preparedness augmentation in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords

competencies-based coursecomplex emergencyhumanitarian assistancehumanitarian responserisk reduction
Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 34 , Issue 6 , December 2019 , pp. 580 - 587
Copyright
© World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2019 

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