Strengthening global capacity for emergency health action

Overview

Study Research Questions:

1. How can the evolving demand for humanitarian health workers be more effectively met?

2. How can organizations better meet the demand for humanitarian health delivery?

3. How can health responses be better coordinated to ensure timely, appropriate and effective addressing of emergency health needs?

This study report aims to inform a broad range of humanitarian actors - United Nations (UN) agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), donors, governments, academics and private sector to take steps to improve and strengthen response to humanitarian health emergencies. There are cross-cutting topics related to the broader multi-sectorial humanitarian architecture that cannot be addressed in this study while providing tangible, actionable recommendations and thus the study remains focused on the three components defined above. Given that the areas of humanitarian financing and leadership are the focus of ongoing and intensive study by other initiatives, including a mapping of response capacity currently being undertaken by the Global Health Cluster, these were not directly addressed in this study. The study scope also does not include an assessment of healthcare services to be rendered, mapping of humanitarian health response activities, inventorying of educational programmes or a systematic review of the literature.