Humanitarian and development partners have established a joint Incident Management Team (IMT) to support COVID-19 preparedness and response efforts in the Pacific. This coordination mechanism has successfully leveraged partners’ capacities and resources, and continues to coordinate their actions to ensure that effective support is provided to national authorities and the affected population.
The specific goals of this publication are first, to conduct an analysis of 1 year of conflict related trauma in Gaza; second, to highlight the role of the Health Cluster partners, including the World Health Organization (WHO) as the cluster lead agency, in supporting the local health system; and third, to document success stories, challenges and lessons learnt
WHO together with health partners such as CBM, Handicap International, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, have released the ‘Emergency Medical Teams: Minimum Technical Standards and Recommendations for Rehabilitation’ which provides important guidance on how emergency medical teams (EMTs) can incorporate rehabilitation in their response to emergencies. Using the experiences from the 2015 Nepal earthquake, this video shows the impact it had on the lives of those injured years later and highlights the reasons why rehabilitation needs to be a core component of any emergency medical response. Integrating rehabilitation into the EMT response resulted in greater clinical care by producing important, cost-effective, and positive long term outcomes at the individual, family, and community levels
This resource outlines ten myths in relation to mental health and psychosocial support for conflict related sexual violence and presents relevant factual information
WHO/RHR/HRP/12.17
This resource outlines principles and interventions in relation to mental health and psychosocial support for conflict-related sexual violence
WHO/RHR/HRP/12.18
"Responding to the psychosocial and mental health needs of sexual violence survivors in conflict-affected Settings"
Ferney-Voltaire, France
28-30 November 2011
"This document promotes good practices and intends to reduce harmful practices by community-based psychosocial programmes that address sexual violence in conflict settings"
WHO/RHR/HRP/12.16
"The Guidance note on disability and emergency risk management for health is a short, practical guide that covers actions across emergency risk management, such as risk assessment, prevention, preparedness, response, recovery and reconstruction. Developed primarily for health actors working in emergency and disaster risk management at the local, national or international level, and in governmental or nongovernmental agencies, the guidance note points out the health-related actions that are required to ensure that both mainstream and specific support are available and accessible to people with disabilities in emergencies"
"This document is written for local and international staff running nutrition programmes in emergencies, and for local, regional and national authorities and donors involved in such programmes. The note explains WHY nutrition programmes need to include early childhood development (ECD) activities to maximize the child’s development. It provides practical suggestions as to WHAT simple steps are necessary to create integrated programmes in situations of famine or food insecurity and it gives examples of HOW such integrated programmes have been established in other situations"
The HESPER Scale "aims to provide a method for assessing perceived needs in representative samples of populations affected by large-scale humanitarian emergencies in a valid and reliable manner. This manual includes the HESPER Scale (see Appendix 1), as well as a detailed explanation of how to use the HESPER Scale, how to train interviewers, and how to organise, analyze and report on a HESPER survey"
"This paper reviews and summarizes the available literature on Haitian mental health and Mental health services. This review was conducted in light of the Haitian earthquake in January 2010. The first part of the review describes historical, economic, sociological and anthropological factors essential to basic understanding of Haiti and its people. This includes discussion of demography, family structure, Haitian economics and religion. The second part of the review focuses on mental health and mental health services. This includes a review of factors such as basic epidemiology of mental illness, common beliefs about mental illness, explanatory models, idioms of distress, help-seeking behavior, configuration of mental health services and the relationship between religion and mental health"
"This document is for humanitarian health actors working at national and sub-national level in countries facing emergencies and crises. It applies to Health Cluster partners, including governmental and non-governmental health service providers. Based on the IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings (IASC, 2007), this document gives an overview of essential knowledge that humanitarian health actors should have about mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) in humanitarian emergencies"
"These community-based rehabilitation (CBR) guidelines are applicable to all disability groups. However, the need was identified for a supplementary booklet to highlight a number of issues which CBR programmes have historically overlooked, i.e. mental health problems, HIV/AIDS, leprosy and humanitarian crises...CBR is a strategy for community-based inclusive development which takes into account the principles of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, e.g. non-discrimination and the need to include all people with disabilities in development initiatives. Therefore, it is important that CBR programmes take steps to address issues which they have traditionally excluded, such as mental health problems, HIV/AIDS, leprosy and humanitarian crises. While these four issues have been chosen for inclusion in this booklet, CBR programmes are encouraged to think broadly about other issues (e.g. CBR and children, CBR and ageing) that are particularly relevant in their communities and which may be included in future editions of the guidelines"
These guidelines provide updated practical information on the clinical management and delivery of clinical services; vector management and delivery of vector control services; laboratory diagnosis and diagnostic tests; and surveillance, emergency preparedness and response
These guidelines are to assist in the care of children in emergencies. They are designed to serve as a reference manual for the evaluation and management of children in emergencies, and as the basis for the training of health care workers. The target audience is first level health workers who provide care to children under the age of 5 years. Physicians and health care workers with more advanced training are referred to the WHO Pocket Book of Hospital Care for Children: Guidelines for the Management of Common Illnesses with Limited Resources (2005)
This document builds on previous WHO publications and explores the different reasons for collecting information about sexual violence in emergency situations. It applies to all forms of enquiry about sexual violence and makes a number of recommendations that are intended to ensure that the necessary safety and ethical safeguards are in place at the beginning of any information gathering exercise. The document sets out the key safety and ethical issues that need to be addressed and the questions that need to be asked. There are examples of good practice and details of further information and resources that are available. This document is not intended to be a standalone guidance document but is designed to complement existing internationally-agreed ethical guidelines for research and to inform ethics review processes
This document has been prepared for maternal and newborn health experts as well as reproductive health experts coordinating and assisting with emergency care during the humanitarian crisis. It describes the ways to estimate the number of pregnant women and those who are about to deliver, highlights some important aspects of emergency care related to pregnancy, childbirth and newborn care, and describes the content of UN kits for such care in three different scenarios
This poster provides information about the minimum response in the midst of emergencies for mental health and psychosocial support in emergency settings
"Violence against women by an intimate partner is a major contributor to the ill-health of women. This study analyses data from 10 countries and sheds new light on the prevalence of violence against women in countries where few data were previously available. It also uncovers the forms and patterns of this violence across different countries and cultures, documenting the consequences of violence for women’s health. This information has important implications for prevention, care and mitigation... The high rates documented by the Study of sexual abuse experienced by girls and women are of great concern, especially in light of the HIV epidemic. Greater public awareness of this problem is needed and a strong public health response that focuses on preventing such violence from occurring in the first place...This study will help national authorities to design policies and programmes that begin to deal with the problem"
"This guide describes best practices for clinical management of people who have been raped in emergency situations. It is intended for adaptation to each situation, taking into account national policies and practices, and availability of materials and drugs. This guide is intended for use by qualified health-care providers in developing protocols for the management of rape survivors in emergencies, taking into account available resources, materials, and drugs, and national policies and procedures. It can also be used in planning health-care services and training health-care providers. The document includes detailed guidance on the clinical management of women, men and children who have been raped"
