Biomedical subjects

X Leus

Publications and source records attributed to X Leus.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1993

Humanitarian assistance: technical assessment and public health support for coordinated relief in the former Yugoslavia.

Since July 1992, the WHO Regional Office for Europe has been using epidemiological and public health assessment techniques to guide its interventions in the crisis in the former Yugoslavia. WHO field operations have evolved into the largest emergency relief operation ever undertaken in the European Region. The WHO programme of humanitarian assistance focuses on five major areas: public health, equipment, supplies and logistic support, support to war victims, primary health care for refugees and rehabilitation of the health care system. The main thrust of the programme is to implement the public health measures required for survival. The first step is to provide health intelligence for international humanitarian assistance programmes through health and nutrition monitoring. This leads to targeted intervention. While involved in all aspects of relief, WHO clearly justifies its presence by its technical focus, bringing its network of expertise and experience to bear on the assessment of need and the coordination of intervention. Three examples of this approach are given: the nutrition programme, which includes emergency food aid and health and nutrition monitoring, the winter protection programme in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the medical kit programme, involving the design and use of special kits to cover basic emergency needs for medical supplies to the maximum number of people. In the former Yugoslavia, the WHO Regional Office for Europe has concentrated on technical situation analysis and sound public health grounding to guide and direct intervention.

Humans↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Internally displaced persons.

There were estimated to be over 20 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) at the end of 1999, a number that surpasses global estimates of refugees. Displacement exposes IDPs to new hazards and accrued vulnerability. These dynamics result in greater risk for the development of illness and death. Often, access of IDPs to health care and humanitarian assistance is excluded deliberately by conflicting parties. Furthermore, the arrival of IDPs into another community or region strains local health systems, and the host population ends up sharing the sufferings of the internally displaced. Health outcomes are dismaying. From a health perspective, the best option is to avoid human displacement. WHO contributes to the prevention of displacement by working for sustainable development. Placing health high on the political agenda helps maintain stability, and thereby, reduce the likelihood for displacement. Primary responsibility for assisting IDPs, irrespective of the cause, rests with the national government. However, where the government is unwilling or unable to provide the necessary aid, the international humanitarian community must step in, with WHO playing a major role in the health sector. There is consensus among the partners of the World Health Organization (WHO) that, in emergencies, the WHO must: 1) take the lead in rapid health assessment, epidemiological and nutritional surveillance, epidemic preparedness, essential drugs management, control of communicable diseases, and physical and psychosocial rehabilitation; and 2) provide guidelines and advice on nutritional requirements and rehabilitation, immunisation, medical relief items, and reproductive health. If the vital health needs of IDPs--security, food, water, shelter, sanitation and household items--are not satisfied, the provision of health services alone cannot save lives. Community participation is essential, and community participation implies bolstering the assets and capacities of the beneficiaries.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Relevant in times of turmoil: WHO and public health in unstable situations.

For millions of people world-wide, surviving the pressure of extreme events is the predominant objective in daily existence. The distinction between natural and human-induced disasters is becoming more and more blurred. Some countries have known only armed conflict for the last 25 years, and their number is increasing. Recently, humanitarian sources reported 24 ongoing emergencies, each of them involving at least 300,000 people "requiring international assistance to avoid malnutrition or death". All together, including the countries still only at risk and those emerging from armed conflicts, 73 countries, i.e., almost 1.8 trillion people, were undergoing differing degrees of instability. Instability must be envisioned as a spectrum extending between "Utopia" and "Chaos". As emergencies bring forward extreme challenges to human life, medical and public health ethics make it imperative for the World Health Organisation (WHO) to be involved. As such, WHO must enhance its presence and effectiveness in its capacity as a universally accepted advocate for public health. Furthermore, as crises become more enmeshed with the legitimacy of the State, and armed conflicts become more directed against countries' social capital, they impinge more on WHO's work, and WHO must reconcile its unique responsibility in the health sector, the humanitarian imperative and the mandate to assist its primary constituents. Health can be viewed as a bridge to peace. The Organization specifically has recognised that disasters can and do affect the achievement of health and health system objectives. Within WHO, the Department of Emergency and Humanitarian Action (EHA) is the instrument for intervention in such situations. The scope of EHA is defined in terms of humanitarian action, emergency preparedness, national capacity building, and advocacy for humanitarian principles. The WHO's role is changing from ensuring a two-way flow of information on new scientific developments in public health in the ideal all-stable, all-equitable, well-resourced state, to dealing with sheer survival when the state is shattered or is part of the problem. The WHO poses itself the explicit goals to reduce avoidable loss of life, burden of disease and disability in emergencies and post-crisis transitions, and to ensure that the Humanitarian Health Assistance is in-line with international standards and local priorities and does not compromise future health development. A planning tree is presented. The World Health Organization must improve its own performance. This requires three key pre-conditions: 1) presence; 2) surge capacity; and 3) institutional support, knowledge, and competencies. Thus, in order to be effective, WHO's presence and surge capacity in emergencies must integrate the institutional knowledge, the competencies, and the managerial set-up of the Organization.

Altruism↗