Factors affecting the United Nations' response to natural disasters: what determines the allocation of the Central Emergency Response Fund?

Natural disasters can overwhelm the domestic response of a country, leaving it dependent on external humanitarian relief. The Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) of the United Nations centralises humanitarian funding and thus allows for a rapid response. This study combined data to analyse the factors that affected the allocation of CERF funding to countries that suffered a natural disaster between 2007 and 2013. It generated descriptive statistics and information on relative risks, and performed regressions of CERF funding across countries. There were 4,346 disasters in total in 188 countries between 2007 and 2013. CERF provided USD 2.98 billion to 87 countries, comprising 3.3 per cent of their total humanitarian funding. CERF more frequently supplied aid to countries in North Africa and the Middle East, and to those that had suffered geophysical disasters. Appropriately, it funds vulnerable countries experiencing severe natural disasters, yet its funding may be affected by variables beyond severity and vulnerability. Further investigation is warranted, therefore.

Emergency care in 59 low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: To conduct a systematic review of emergency care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). METHODS: We searched PubMed, CINAHL and World Health Organization (WHO) databases for reports describing facility-based emergency care and obtained unpublished data from a network of clinicians and researchers. We screened articles for inclusion based on their titles and abstracts in English or French. We extracted data on patient outcomes and demographics as well as facility and provider characteristics. Analyses were restricted to reports published from 1990 onwards. FINDINGS: We identified 195 reports concerning 192 facilities in 59 countries. Most were academically-affiliated hospitals in urban areas. The median mortality within emergency departments was 1.8% (interquartile range, IQR: 0.2-5.1%). Mortality was relatively high in paediatric facilities (median: 4.8%; IQR: 2.3-8.4%) and in sub-Saharan Africa (median: 3.4%; IQR: 0.5-6.3%). The median number of patients was 30 000 per year (IQR: 10 296-60 000), most of whom were young (median age: 35 years; IQR: 6.9-41.0) and male (median: 55.7%; IQR: 50.0-59.2%). Most facilities were staffed either by physicians-in-training or by physicians whose level of training was unspecified. Very few of these providers had specialist training in emergency care. CONCLUSION: Available data on emergency care in LMICs indicate high patient loads and mortality, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where a substantial proportion of all deaths may occur in emergency departments. The combination of high volume and the urgency of treatment make emergency care an important area of focus for interventions aimed at reducing mortality in these settings.

More than just a hobby: building an academic career in global emergency medicine.

BACKGROUND: As the specialty of emergency medicine (EM) continues to spread around the world, a growing number of academic emergency physicians have become involved in global EM development, research, and teaching. While academic departments have always found this work laudable, they have only recently begun to accept global EM as a rigorous academic pursuit in its own right. OBJECTIVE: This article describes how emergency physicians can translate their global health work into "academic currency" within both the clinician-educator and clinician-researcher tracks. DISCUSSION: The authors discuss the impact of various types of additional training, including global EM fellowships, for launching a career in global EM. Clearly delineated clinician-researcher and clinician-educator tracks are important for documenting achievement in global EM. CONCLUSIONS: Reflecting a growing interest in global health, more of today's EM faculty members are ascending the academic ranks as global EM specialists. Whether attempting to climb the academic ladder as a clinician-educator or clinician-researcher, advanced planning and the firm support of one's academic chair is crucial to the success of the promotion process. Given the relative youth of the subspecialty of global EM, however, it will take time for the pathways to academic promotion to become well delineated.

Development of an evaluation framework suitable for assessing humanitarian workforce competencies during crisis simulation exercises.

The need to provide a professionalization process for the humanitarian workforce is well established. Current competency-based curricula provided by existing academically affiliated training centers in North America, the United Kingdom, and the European Union provide a route toward certification. Simulation exercises followed by timely evaluation is one way to mimic the field deployment process, test knowledge of core competences, and ensure that a competent workforce can manage the inevitable emergencies and crises they will face. Through a 2011 field-based exercise that simulated a humanitarian crisis, delivered under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO), a competency-based framework and evaluation tool is demonstrated as a model for future training and evaluation of humanitarian providers.

Prospective Validation of a Prediction Model for the Diagnosis of Acute Pancreatitis.

Importance: While most patients with acute pancreatitis (AP) fulfill diagnostic criteria with characteristic abdominal pain and serum lipase levels of at least 3 times the upper limit of normal (reference range) at presentation, early imaging is often used for confirmation. A prior prediction model and corresponding point-based score were developed using nonimaging parameters to diagnose AP in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED). Objective: To evaluate the performance of the prediction model to diagnose AP in a prospective patient cohort. Design, Setting, and Participants: This prospective diagnostic study included consecutive adult patients presenting to the ED between January 1, 2020, and March 9, 2021, at 2 large academic medical centers in the northeastern US with serum lipase levels at least 3 times the upper limit of normal. Patients transferred from outside institutions or with malignant disease and established intra-abdominal metastases, acute trauma, or altered mentation were excluded. Data were analyzed from October 15 to October 23, 2023. Exposures: Participants were assigned scores for initial serum lipase level, number of prior AP episodes, prior cholelithiasis, abdominal surgery within 2 months, presence of epigastric pain, pain of worsening severity, duration from pain onset to presentation, and pain level at ED presentation. Main Outcome and Measures: A final diagnosis of AP, established by expert review of hospitalization records. Results: Prospective scores in 349 participants (mean [SD] age, 53.0 [18.8] years; 184 women [52.7%]; 66 Black [18.9%]; 199 White [57.0%]) demonstrated an area under the receiver operating characteristics curve of 0.91. A score of at least 6 points achieved highest accuracy (F score, 82.0), corresponding to a sensitivity of 81.5%, specificity of 85.9%, positive predictive value of 82.6%, and negative predictive value of 85.1% for AP diagnosis. Early computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging was performed more often in participants predicted to have AP (116 of 155 [74.8%] with a score ≥6 vs 111 of 194 [57.2%] with a score <6; P < .001). Early imaging revealed an alternative diagnosis in 8 of 116 participants (6.9%) with scores of at least 6 points, 1 of 93 (1.1%) with scores of at least 7 points, and 1 of 73 (1.4%) with scores of at least 8 points. Conclusions and Relevance: In this multicenter diagnostic study, the prediction model demonstrated excellent AP diagnostic accuracy. Its application may be used to avoid unnecessary confirmatory imaging.

Academic affiliated training centers in humanitarian health, Part I: program characteristics and professionalization preferences of centers in North America.

The collaborative London based non-governmental organization network ELRHA (Enhancing Learning and Research for Humanitarian Assistance) supports partnerships between higher education institutions and humanitarian organizations worldwide with the objective to enhance the professionalization of the humanitarian sector. While coordination and control of the humanitarian sector has plagued the response to every major crisis, concerns highlighted by the 2010 Haitian earthquake response further catalyzed and accelerated the need to ensure competency-based professionalization of the humanitarian health care work force. The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative sponsored an independent survey of established academically affiliated training centers in North America that train humanitarian health care workers to determine their individual training center characteristics and preferences in the potential professionalization process. The survey revealed that a common thread of profession-specific skills and core humanitarian competencies were being offered in both residential and online programs with additional programs offering opportunities for field simulation experiences and more advanced degree programs. This study supports the potential for the development of like-minded academic affiliated and competency-based humanitarian health programs to organize themselves under ELRHA's regional "consultation hubs" worldwide that can assist and advocate for improved education and training opportunities in less served developing countries.

Humanitarian Training With Virtual Simulation During a Pandemic.

There is an ongoing and established need for humanitarian training and professionalization. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic disrupted training programs designed to accomplish this goal, including the Humanitarian Response Intensive Course, which includes a 3-d immersive simulation to prepare humanitarian workers for future field work. To provide program continuity, the 3-d simulation was quickly adapted to a virtual format using a combination of video conferencing, short messaging service, and cloud-based file storage software. Participants were geographically dispersed and participated virtually. Learning objectives were preserved, while some components not amenable to a virtual format were removed.A virtual humanitarian training simulation is a feasible, acceptable, and affordable alternative to an in-person simulation. Participants were engaged and experienced minimal technological disruptions. The majority of students believed the format met or exceeded expectations. However, feedback also emphasized the importance of providing sufficient time for team collaboration and deliverable preparation in the simulation schedule. The virtual format was more affordable than the traditional in-person simulation, and diverse expert faculty who could not have attended in-person were able to participate. This format could be used to overcome other barriers to in-person simulation training, including geographic, financial, time, or security.

From intern to "accepted": A guide to preparing for fellowship in emergency medicine.

Introduction: The number of fellowship options for emergency medicine (EM) physicians continues to expand. While guides exist to help residents explore individual fellowship pathways, we aimed to create a comprehensive guide for all residents considering fellowship. Methods: At the direction of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) Board, 9 members of the Fellowship Guide Workgroup, including members of the Fellowship Approval Committee, and 2 members of SAEM Residents and Medical Students (RAMS) group collaboratively developed the guide using available evidence and expert opinion when high-quality evidence was unavailable. The guide was reviewed and approved by all members. Results: The guide offers advice to EM residents on how to conceptualize key aspects of their training with respect to preparation for fellowship, including scholarship, teaching, leadership, and electives. Additionally, it offers perspective on selecting a fellowship that matches the resident's interests and goals and successfully applying. Conclusion: This fellowship guide for EM residents considering fellowship summarizes the best currently available advice for residents considering fellowship training after residency.

Fostering a Diverse Pool of Global Health Academic Leaders Through Mentorship and Career Path Planning.

Established in 2011, the Global Emergency Medicine Academy (GEMA) aims "to improve the global delivery of emergency care through research, education, and mentorship." Global health remains early in its development as an academic track in emergency medicine, and there are only a small number of global emergency medicine academic faculty in most institutions. Consequently, GEMA focused its efforts at the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) Annual Meeting in 2019 on developing a diverse pool of global health academics and leaders in emergency medicine. Current and previous members of the GEMA Executive Committee convened to appraise and describe how current GEMA efforts situate within existing knowledge in the arenas of professional development and mentorship. The 2019 SAEM Annual Meeting unveiled the Global Emergency Medicine Roadmap, a joint venture between GEMA and the residents and medical students (RAMS) group. The roadmap guides medical students, residents, and fellows in the exploration of global emergency medicine and career development. GEMA's mentorship roundtable complemented this effort by providing a version of speed mentoring across several critical areas: work-life balance, identifying near-peer and long-distance mentoring opportunities, negotiating with your Chair, finding funding, networking, and teaching abroad. Finally, the GEMA-sponsored panel "Empowering Women through Emergency Care Development in LMICs" underscored the potential for empowering women through global emergency medicine development, including policy advocacy, inclusive research approaches, and mentorship and sponsorship. In summary, GEMA is committed to developing a diverse group of future global health leaders to guide the expansion of emergency medicine worldwide. Our work indicates critical future directions in global emergency medicine education and training including building innovative mentoring networks across institutions and countries. Further, we will continue to focus on growing faculty diversity, empowering underrepresented populations through emergency care development, and supporting rising global emergency medicine faculty in their pursuit of advancement and promotion.

The Haiti Humanitarian Response Course: A Novel Approach to Local Responder Training in International Humanitarian Response.

INTRODUCTION: Countries most affected by disasters are often those with limited local capacity to respond. When local capacity is overwhelmed, international humanitarian response often provides needs-based emergency response. Despite global progress in education and the development of international humanitarian response standards, access to training and integration of local actors in response mechanisms remains limited. In May 2017, the Haiti Humanitarian Response Course (HHRC) was implemented in Mirebalais, Haiti to increase local capacity and allow for effective future engagement with international humanitarian actors in a country prone to disasters. REPORT: In collaboration with the Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais' (HUM; Mirebalais, Haiti) Department of Medical Education and Emergency Medicine (EM) residency program, four physicians from the Division of Global Emergency Care and Humanitarian Studies at Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston, Massachusetts USA) facilitated the course, which included 53 local physicians and staff. Following 15 hours of online pre-course preparation, through didactics and practical small-group exercises, the course focused on key components of international humanitarian response, minimum standards for effective response, and the roles of key response players. The course was free to participants and taught in English and French. DISCUSSION: The HHRC reduced the barriers often faced by local actors who seek training in international humanitarian response by offering free training in their own community. It presents a novel approach to narrow critical gaps in training local populations in international humanitarian response, especially in environments prone to crises and disasters. This approach can help local responders better access international humanitarian response mechanisms when the local response capacity is exhausted or overwhelmed. CONCLUSION: The HHRC demonstrates a potential new model for humanitarian and disaster training and offers a model for similar programs in other disaster-prone countries. Ultimately, local capacity building could lead to more efficient resource utilization, improved knowledge sharing, and better disaster response.

Responding to chemical weapons violations in Syria: legal, health, and humanitarian recommendations.

BACKGROUND: The repeated use of prohibited chemical weapons in the Syrian conflict poses serious health, humanitarian, and security threats to civilians, healthcare personnel, and first responders. Moreover, the use of chemical weapons constitutes a clear and egregious violation of international law-likely amounting to a war crime-for which continued impunity is setting a dangerous precedent in relation to current and future conflicts. This debate article calls upon concerned states, organizations, and individuals to respond urgently and unequivocally to this serious breach of international legal and humanitarian norms. MAIN BODY: Based on health, humanitarian, and legal findings, this article calls for concrete action to: 1) reduce the risk of chemical weapons being used in current and future conflicts; 2) review and support the preparedness equipment and antidote supplies of first responders, humanitarian organizations, and military forces operating in Syria; 3) support international mechanisms for monitoring and enforcing the prohibition on chemical weapons, including through criminal accountability; 4) support civilian victims of chemical weapons attacks, including refugees; and 5) re-commit to the complete elimination of chemical weapons in compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention (1993), a comprehensive treaty that bans chemical weapons and requires their complete destruction. CONCLUSION: All involved states and organizations should take urgent steps to ensure the protection of the most vulnerable victims of conflict, including victims of chemical weapons attacks in Syria, and to reinforce international law in the face of such serious violations.

The Solidarity and Health Neutrality of Physicians in War & Peace.

The wars in the Middle East have led to unprecedented threats and attacks on patients, healthcare workers, and purposeful targeting of hospitals and medical facilities. It is crucial that every healthcare provider, both civilian and military, on either side of the conflict become aware of the unique and inherent protections afforded to them under International Humanitarian Law. However, these protections come with obligations. Whereas Governments must guarantee these protections, when violated, medical providers have equal duty and obligations under the Law to ensure that they will neither commit nor assist in these violations nor take part in any act of hostility. Healthcare providers must not allow any inhuman or degrading treatment of which they are aware and must report such actions to the appropriate authorities. Failure to do so leads to risks of moral, ethical and legal consequences as well as penalties for their actions and inactions. There must be immediate recognition by all parties of the neutrality of health care workers and their rights and responsibilities to care for any sick and injured patient, regardless of their nationality, race, religion, or political point of view.

Sign me up: rules of the road for humanitarian volunteers during the Ebola outbreak.

The current Ebola outbreak is the worst global public health emergency of our generation, and our global health care community must and will rise to serve those affected. Aid organizations participating in the Ebola response must carefully plan to carry out their responsibility to ensure the health, safety, and security of their responders. At the same time, individual health care workers and their employers must evaluate the ability of an aid organization to protect its workers in the complex environment of this unheralded Ebola outbreak. We present a minimum set of operational standards developed by a consortium of Boston-based hospitals that a professional organization should have in place to ensure the health, safety, and security of its staff in response to the Ebola virus disease outbreak.

Academic Institutions' Critical Guidelines for Health Care Workers Who Deploy to West Africa for the Ebola Response and Future Crises.

The unprecedented Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa, with its first cases documented in March 2014, has claimed the lives of thousands of people, and it has devastated the health care infrastructure and workforce in affected countries. Throughout this outbreak, there has been a critical lack of health care workers (HCW), including physicians, nurses, and other essential non-clinical staff, who have been needed, in most of the affected countries, to support the medical response to EVD, to attend to the health care needs of the population overall, and to be trained effectively in infection protection and control. This lack of sufficient and qualified HCW is due in large part to three factors: 1) limited HCW staff prior to the outbreak, 2) disproportionate illness and death among HCWs caused by EVD directly, and 3) valid concerns about personal safety among international HCWs who are considering responding to the affected areas. These guidelines are meant to inform institutions who deploy professional HCWs.

Learning from Japan: strengthening US emergency care and disaster response.

As Hurricane Katrina demonstrated in 2005, US health response systems for disasters-typically designed to handle only short-term mass-casualty events-are inadequately prepared for disasters that result in large-scale population displacements. Similarly, after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, Japan found that many of its disaster shelters failed to meet international standards for long-term provision of basic needs and health care for the vulnerable populations that sought refuge in the shelters. Hospital disaster plans had not been tested and turned out to be inadequate, and emergency communication equipment did not function. We make policy recommendations that aim to improve US responses to mass-displacement disasters based on Japan's 2011 experience. First, response systems must provide for the extended care of large populations of chronically ill and vulnerable people. Second, policies should ensure that shelters meet or exceed international standards for the provision of food, water, sanitation, and privacy. Third, hospital disaster plans should include redundant communication systems and sufficient emergency provisions for both staff and patients. Finally, there must be routine drills for responses to mass-displacement disasters so that areas needing improvement can be uncovered before an emergency occurs.

Sexual violence among host and refugee population in Djohong District, Eastern Cameroon.

The following is a population-based survey of the Central African Republic (CAR) female refugee population displaced to rural Djohong District of Eastern Cameroon and associated female Cameroonian host population to characterise the prevalence and circumstances of sexual violence. A population-based, multistage, random cluster survey of 600 female heads of household was conducted during March 2010. Women heads of household were asked about demographics, household economy and assets, level of education and sexual violence experienced by the respondent only. The respondents were asked to describe the circumstances of their recent assault. The lifetime prevalence of sexual violence among Djohong district female heads of household is 35.2% (95% CI 28.7-42.2). Among heads of household who reported a lifetime incident of sexual violence, 64.0% (95% CI 54.3-72.5) suffered sexual violence perpetrated by their husband or partner. Among the host population, 3.9% (95% CI 1.4-10.5) reported sexual violence by armed groups compared to 39.0% (95% CI 25.6-54.2) of female refugee heads of household. Women who knew how to add and subtract were less likely to report sexual violence during their lifetime (OR 0.16, 95% CI 0.08-0.34). Sexual violence is common among refugees and host population in Eastern Cameroon. Most often, perpetrators are partners/husbands or armed groups.