HUMANITARIAN HEALTH CRISIS: LESSONS LEARNED

Humanitarian Health Crisis: Lessons Learned

From the Past

Humanitarian Health Crisis: Lessons Learned

From the Past

Humanitarian Crisis

Humanitarian crisis is an event which is related to disasters which is caused by very peculiar circumstances and it results in many catastrophes such as human suffering, death and hunger. Humanitarian organizations have gone up in numbers because of such events. There are many factors which lead to these events. These factors include war, destruction, poverty environmental destruction, growing population density and change (Carter, 2007, pp 98-154).

The definition of complex emergency is defined by the UN is that is a huge humanitarian crisis which may be multi-casual in nature and it may require the whole system to act. There are many factors involved in this which are political, conflict and peacekeeping. When a complex emergency arrives it becomes essential that the whole system takes the initiative, so that external aid can be obtained.

There are many man-made and natural events that may occur and cause emergencies which is hazardous to the environment, which includes the vulnerable population and they are also prone to these hazards. Most of the time the events that occur calls for an external aid as they are beyond the reach of the society to respond that is why they require international assistance. These events may lead to infectious diseases, limited access to food, water and housing, violence, failing infrastructure and access to clean water. Children are extremely vulnerable to these factors. Over 75% epidemics occur during war if proper infrastructure is not available (Weiss, 2004, pp 67-78).

Countries which are industrial in nature humanitarian crisis usually occur in the form of natural disasters, advance weaponry on human and physical structure. Even though these have high standards of health and education but they are still overwhelmed by these disastrous events. Mortality is usually a result of injuries occurred during the event. Later it turns into death due to the fact that they are untreated and chronic diseases. Even though a person may recover from these events physically but psychologically that person is scarred and takes long time to recover, this is a major part of the recovery phase (Simon, 2005, pp 12-45).

Humanitarian crisis requires a multidimensional response. There are various agencies; governments and nongovernmental organization which respond rapidly to the needs of the people who have been affected by theses disastrous events. Several of the organizations maintain websites and staff to coordinate with these efforts.

When crisis occurs apart from financial, material and human resource support, infrastructural and logistical coordination are also important. These relief organizations should simultaneously address the immediate effects and the causes of the emergency. They develop a full proof and a sustainable plan to overcome these problems. If we are to reduce the humanitarian crisis we should underline the insecurities in the determinants of health before and event occurs, we need to have a proactive approach. Mortality can be achieved by improving the infrastructure, having a detailed emergency plan and also a strong leadership (Talbot, 2004, ...