Requirements for independent community-based quality assessment and accountability practices in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief activities.

During responses to disasters, the credibility of humanitarian agencies can be threatened by perceptions of poor quality of the responses. Many initiatives have been introduced over the last two decades to help address these issues and enhance the overall quality of humanitarian response, often with limited success. There remain important gaps and deficiencies in quality assurance efforts, including potential conflicts of interest.

Surveillance beyond camp settings in humanitarian emergencies: findings from the Humanitarian Health Information Management Working Group.

Introduction: Surveillance is an essential component of health and nutrition information management during humanitarian situations. Changes in the nature and scope of humanitarian assistance activities have created new challenges in health surveillance, particularly outside of camp-based settings.

Objectives: The primary aim of the Humanitarian Health Information Management Working Group was to identify challenges and areas that need further elucidation in a range of non-camp settings, including urban and rural as well as low- and middle-income countries.

Reducing maternal mortality among Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

Objective: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) strove to reduce maternal mortality among Afghan refugees in Hangu district of Pakistan by improving access to emergency obstetric care (EmOC), community knowledge of danger signs of pregnancy, and the use of health information.

Methods: IRC established EmOC centers, trained community members on safe motherhood, linked primary health care with education on danger signs of pregnancy and the importance of skilled attendance, and improved the health information system.

Results: The maternal mortality ratio among Afghan refugees in the area improved from 291 per 100000 live births in 2000 to 102 per 100000 live births in 2004.

Enhancing collaboration during humanitarian response: an interim report from stakeholders survey.

The effectiveness of humanitarian response efforts has long been hampered by a lack of coordination among responding organizations. The need for increased coordination and collaboration, as well as the need to better understand experiences with coordination, were recognized by participants of a multilateral Working Group convened to examine the challenges of coordination in humanitarian health responses. This preliminary study is an interim report of an ongoing survey designed by the Working Group to describe the experiences of coordination and collaboration in greater detail, including factors that promote or discourage coordination and lessons learned, and to determine whether there is support for a new consortium dedicated to coordination.

A study of health facilities: implications for reproductive health and HIV/AIDS programs in southern Sudan.

In October 2001, a pilot project to design strategies to reduce HIV/AIDS transmission and improve related reproductive health practices was initiated in southern Sudan. A health facility assessment was conducted in order to determine the type and scope of care given to clients with sexually transmitted infections (STIs). It was found that many health care practitioners did not have basic training in STI diagnosis and management, and no practitioner had training in the syndromic approach.