Human Resources in Humanitarian Health Working Group Report
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Date
7-2009
Journal
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine
Volume
Volume 24, Supplement 2
Inclusive Pages
s184-193
Keywords
Disaster Planning--organization & administration; World Health; Access to Health Care; Workforce Issues
Abstract
Humanitarian responses to conflict and disasters due to natural hazards usually operate in contexts of resource scarcity and unmet demands for healthcare workers. Task shifting is one avenue for delivering needed health care in resource poor settings, and on-the-ground reports indicate that task shifting may be applicable in humanitarian contexts. However, a variety of obstacles currently restrict the ability to employ task shifting in these situations, including issues of regulation, accreditation, funding, and a lack of commonly agreed-upon core competencies for different categories of humanitarian health workers. The Human Resources in Humanitarian Health (HRHH) Working Group during the 2009 Humanitarian Action Summit evaluated the potential strengths and weaknesses of task shifting in humanitarian relief efforts, and proposed a range of strategies to constructively integrate task shifting into humanitarian response.
APA Citation
Janneck, L., Cooper, N., Frehywot, S., Mowafi, H., Hein, K. (2009). Human Resources in Humanitarian Health Working Group Report. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, 24(suppl. 2), s184-193.