Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T23:31:52.007Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Non-Governmental Organizational Health Operations in Humanitarian Crises: The Case for Technical Support Units

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

P. Gregg Greenough ,
Rahim Nazerali ,
Sheri Fink  and
Michael J. VanRooyen
P. Gregg Greenough*
Affiliation:
Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Rahim Nazerali
Affiliation:
Dartmouth Medical School, Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA
Sheri Fink
Affiliation:
Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Michael J. VanRooyen
Affiliation:
Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
*
P.Gregg Greenough, MD, MPH Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, 14 Story Street, 2nd Floor Cambridge, MA 02138, USA E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

As the humanitarian health response industry grows, there is a need for technical health expertise that can build an evidence base around outcome measures and raise the quality and accountability of the health relief response.We propose the formation of technical support units (TSUs), entities of health expertise institutionalized within humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which will bridge the gap between the demand for evidencebased, humanitarian programming and the field capacity to accomplish it. With the input of major humanitarian NGOs and donors, this paper discusses the attributes and capacities of TSUs; and the mechanisms for creating and enhancing TSUs within the NGO management structure.

Keywords

humanitariannon-governmental organizationsindicatorstechnical support
Type
Special Report
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 22 , Issue 5 , October 2007 , pp. 369 - 376
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Goma Epidemiology Group: Public health impact of Rwandan refugee crisis: What happened in Goma, Zaire, in July, 1994? Lancet 1995;345(8946):339–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Siddique, AK, Salam, A, Islam, MS, et al. :Why treatment centres failed to prevent cholera deaths among Rwandan refugees in Goma, Zaire. Lancet 1995;345(8946):359–361.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3.Sphere Project: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response. Geneva, Switzerland: Sphere Project, 2006.Google Scholar
4.Darcy, J: Locating responsibility: The Sphere Humanitarian Charter and its rationale. Disasters 2004;28(2):112–123.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5.Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action. London: Overseas Development Institute. Available at http://www.odi.org.uk/ALNAP. Accessed 16 November 2006.Google Scholar
6.Mèdicins sans Frontiéres: Refugee Health. London: Macmillan Education Ltd, 1997.Google Scholar
7.UN High Commissioner for Refugees: Handbook for Emergencies, 2nd ed. Geneva: UNHCR, 1999.Google Scholar
8.US Agency for International Development: Standardized Monitoring and Assessment of Relief and Transitions (SMART): Protocols and methods. Available at http://www.smartindicators.org/SMART_Brief-June_28_2004.pdf. Accessed 16 November 2006.Google Scholar
9.Leaning, J: Ethics of research in refugee populations. BMJ 2001;357(9266):1432–1433.Google ScholarPubMed
10.Good Humanitarian Donor Initiative: Principles and good practice of humanitarian donorship, 2003. Available at http://www.goodhumanitariandonorship. org. Accessed 15 July 2007.Google Scholar
11.Smillie, I, Minnear, L: The Quality of Money: Donor Behavior in Humanitarian Financing. Somerville, MA: Humanitarian War Project, Feinstein International Famine Center, Tufts University, 2003.Google Scholar
12.Spiegel, PB, Salama, P, Maloney, S, et al. : Quality of malnutrition assessment surveys conducted during famine in Ethiopia. JAMA 2004;292(5):613–618.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13.Bolton, P, Bass, J, Murray, L, et al. : Expanding the scope of humanitarian program evaluation. Prehospital Disast Med 2007;22(4):390–395.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14.Thomas, A. Linking preparedness and performance: The tsunami experience. Humanitarian Exchange 2005;32.Google Scholar
15.Mowafi, H, Nowak, K, Hein, K: Facing the challenges in human resources for humanitarian health. Prehospital Disast Med 2007;22(4):351–359.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16.Abdeen, Z, Greenough, PG, Qasrawi, R, et al. :Nutritional assessment of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, 2003. Jerusalem: Care West Bank and Gaza, 2003. Available at http://www.carewbg.org/Documents/Nutritional-Assessment04 Oct.pdf. Accessed 16 August 2007.Google Scholar
17.Kapila, M: Tracking health performance and humanitarian outcomes. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2005. Available at http://www.who.int/hac/events/summarynote.pdf.Accessed 16 August 2007.Google Scholar
18.UN Interagency Standing Committee: Health cluster mission statement. Available at http://www.who.int/hac/network/interagency/healthcluster/core_commitments_proposed_revision.pdf. Accessed 16 August 2007.Google Scholar