Overview

• Compare various emergency contexts and scenarios, including three phases of emergencies and camp vs. non-camp settings
  
  
• Review of major causes of mortality and morbidity in emergency situations and the corresponding public health priorities
  
  
• Orientation to the SPHERE humanitarian charter and standards

Facilitation Notes

This session is intended to provide an introduction to the emergency context for development staff working in the health and nutrition sector. As part 2 of a 2-part introduction, this should be accompanied by Introduction to Public Health in Emergencies Part 1: History and Lessons Learned.

While covering the accompanying slides, it is important to remember that the audience is coming from a development perspective. Many of the emergency-related concepts and terms are new information and need special attention. It is helpful to use this session to lay the basic groundwork for other sessions in this toolkit; the visual aids and resources from this session should be referred to frequently throughout other sessions. A 10-minute SPHERE video is provided below as orientation to the SPHERE humanitarian charter and standards. Additional facilitation notes are included within the slides.

Begin session by introducing the Emergency Health and Nutrition Glossary and visual aids, followed by the accompanying slides and allow time for questions and discussion.

Timing

1 Hour and 15 Minutes

Plan 15 minutes to introduce glossary and review basic terminology, 45 minutes to review slides and 15 minutes for questions/answers. Allow an additional 15 minutes for the Optional Group Discussion and 10 minutes for the SPHERE video.

Exercises and Group Work

Optional Group Discussion

If time permits, a discussion of the following scenarios can be useful in reviewing emergency scenarios and the public health priorities relevant to each.

What would be the most urgent health needs in the following scenarios?

• A major earthquake with many homes and basic infrastructure destroyed
  
  
• Prolonged drought leading to large scale crop failure and displacement of population
  
  
• As a result of civil conflict, several hundred thousand civilians flee across border and settle in large camps along ariver

Visual Aids and Demonstrations

1. One glossary hard copy per participant

2. The SPHERE Project Video (Should be downloaded in advance)

3. Flipcharts or other posters to display basic terminology and calculations

Resources

The Sphere Project: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response. The SPHERE Project, 2004

Refugee Health: An approach to emergency situations. MSF, 1997

Child Health in Complex Emergencies. William J. Moss, et al. The National Research Council, 2006

Additional Resources