Public Health Priorities in Humanitarian Emergencies

Comprehensive flashcards defining humanitarian emergency criteria, demographic statistics, and the ten core public health priorities implemented during crises.

Populations in crisis statistics

Includes an estimated $19.5$ million refugees, $38$ million IDPs, and $1$ billion people in $40$ fragile states.

Humanitarian Emergency Crude Mortality Definition

A mortality rate of $\frac{1}{10,000}$ adults/day or $\frac{2}{10,000}$ children/day, or a doubling of baseline crude mortality.

Initial Health Assessment Timeframe

Should be completed within a few days to determine emergency magnitude, needs, and risk factors.

Measles Case Fatality Rate (CFR)

Frequently high in emergencies, it can exceed $10\%$, making large-scale vaccination a priority regardless of previous coverage.

Measles Vaccine Efficacy

Estimated at $85\%$, often requiring high coverage to mitigate risk among displaced populations.

Water Quantity Standard

$20\,L$ per person per day is the required standard for water supply.

Drinking Water Quality Standard

Drinking water should contain less than $100$ coliforms per $L$.

Sanitation Standard

A maximum of $20$ persons per latrine is the accepted standard in humanitarian emergencies.

Impact of Hygiene Promotion

The promotion of hygienic practices can reduce diarrhoeal morbidity by between $30\%$ and $90\%$, compared to a $25\%$ reduction from water/sanitation supply alone.

Serious Nutritional Situation Thresholds

A situation is considered serious if global malnutrition is $> 20\%$ or severe malnutrition is $> 5\%$, based on anthropometric surveys of children under $5$.

MUAC (Mid-Upper Arm Circumference)

A rapid nutritional assessment tool where a measurement of $< 115\,mm$ serves as a good predictor of the risk of death.

Shelter Standards

Requires $3.5\,m^2$ per person for habitat and $30\,m^2$ per person overall for site planning.

Curative Care Levels

The four levels of health care delivery in the emergency phase include referral hospital, central facility, peripheral facilities, and outreach.

Surveillance

The systematic collection and interpretation of data on morbidity and mortality used to detect epidemics and evaluate programmes.

Community Health Worker (CHW) Standard

The standard staffing ratio is $1$ CHW per $1000$ persons for activities like active case finding and surveillance.

10 Priorities in Emergencies

1. Rapid initial assessment, 2. Measles and other vaccines, 3. Water and sanitation, 4. Food and nutrition programs, 5. Shelters and site planning, 6. Curative activities, 7. Control of communicable diseases & epidemics, 8. Surveillance, 9. Human resources & training, 10. Coordination.