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Health in Humanitarian Crises

Discover the health needs of those affected by humanitarian crises, challenges of delivering healthcare, and what we must do next.

34,017 enrolled on this course

  • Duration

    3 weeks
  • Weekly study

    4 hours

Humanitarian crises due to armed conflict, natural disasters, disease outbreaks and other hazards are a major and growing contributor to ill-health and vulnerability worldwide, and their continuing effects on health and health systems can undermine decades of social development.

Humanitarian crises present a number of distinct challenges for public health interventions and research. These include violence and insecurity, mass population displacement, severely deteriorated daily living conditions and impoverishment. They can also cause sudden and widespread disruption to health services and the broader health system, and limit domestic access to human, financial and technical resources alongside an increasing need to coordinate aid from outside the country.

This free online course is designed to answer key questions including:

  • What are the key health needs in humanitarian crises?
  • How can we develop responses to health needs in humanitarian settings with maximum impact?
  • How will we respond to health needs in the future?

Understand the health challenges before, during and after a humanitarian crisis

Our course will begin by thinking about the key characteristics of humanitarian crises, describing some of the key political, economic and social factors that contribute to humanitarian crises and their effects on health and healthcare systems.

We will then move on to look at the practical responses to health needs in humanitarian crises, including how and why we prioritise health interventions, the ways in which these might be conducted on the ground, and the evidence gathered and used to make decisions.

Finally we will look ahead, identifying the new and continuing challenges facing the world, the potential health innovations and technologies that may help address these issues, and hearing experts’ perspectives on the future landscape of humanitarianism and health.

Learn with humanitarian crisis experts from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and beyond

The course has been developed by the Health in Humanitarian Crises Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

The Centre brings together multi-disciplinary researchers and practitioners from across the School, other academic institutions, NGOs, governments and United Nations agencies to focus on improving the health of populations affected by humanitarian crises.

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Skip to 0 minutes and 9 seconds JEN PALMER: Unprecedented numbers of people have been displaced by humanitarian crises, such as the ongoing armed conflict in Syria, devastating natural disasters like Hurricane Matthew in Haiti, and disease outbreaks such as Ebola. Humanitarian crises are a major and growing contributor to ill health and vulnerability worldwide. Their effects on health and health systems can undermine decades of social development and present a number of distinct challenges for public health interventions.

Skip to 0 minutes and 35 seconds KARL BLANCHET: My name is Karl Blanchet, and I’m the Lead Educator for the MOOC Health in Humanitarian Crises I’m also the Director of the Health in Humanitarian Crises Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Skip to 0 minutes and 48 seconds JEN PALMER: And I’m Jen Palmer, co-Lead Educator and Deputy Director of the Centre. The Centre is a group of more than 100 researchers here at LSHTM, many of whom have firsthand experience of delivering humanitarian programmes across the globe. We continue to work in partnership with national and international organisations, including United Nations agencies, civil society organisations, universities, and governments. Collectively, we carry out research and teaching with the aim of improving humanitarian practise and policies, ultimately to improve the health of people in humanitarian crises.

Skip to 1 minute and 21 seconds KARL BLANCHET: In this course, we will hear from a range of experts across disciplines, including epidemiology, anthropology, economics, health policy, and health systems. Using videos, articles, and discussions, we will ask, what are the key health needs in humanitarian crisis? How can we develop effective health responses in humanitarian settings? And how will we respond to humanitarian health needs in the future? The course is suitable for you if you are a healthcare practitioner or NGO coordinator, especially if you work in a low and middle-income country affected by humanitarian crisis. Also, if you are a student in health and development or have an interest in the challenges of delivering health care in a crisis setting.

Skip to 2 minutes and 13 seconds JEN PALMER: In the humanitarian world, we have recently seen strong commitment to coordinating crisis response through initiatives like the Sustainable Development Goals and the world’s first Humanitarian Summit. This work, and by extension our course, emphasises that we leave no one behind, and in particular, this means that people affected and disadvantaged by humanitarian crises.

What topics will you cover?

  • The main health needs of populations in humanitarian crises
  • Cross-cutting health issues, such as disability, the elderly, and women and girls
  • The challenges of healthcare delivery in crisis situations
  • Humanitarian principles, coordination mechanisms, and codes of conduct
  • Data collection, response planning, and prioritisation of health interventions
  • Sector-specific health interventions, including mental health, NCDs, sexual health, and nutrition
  • Ethical considerations around conducting research, evidence-informed decision making, and evaluating health programmes
  • Historic, current, and emerging trends in humanitarian health
  • Ideas surrounding the future of humanitarianism
  • Current innovations in humanitarian action.

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Explore the different types of humanitarian crises and their resulting impacts on population health and health systems
  • Reflect on humanitarian principles, ethics, and codes of conduct and how these come into play when delivering humanitarian health interventions
  • Assess emerging trends in humanitarian crises and consider how the humanitarian sector may need to adapt as a result.

Who is the course for?

The course will be particularly relevant to healthcare practitioners and NGO staff, especially those in low- and middle-income countries affected by armed conflict, natural disasters and disease outbreaks. It will also be valuable to individuals studying health or development and to anyone with an interest in the challenges of delivering healthcare in a crisis setting.

What do people say about this course?

"Thank you for an exciting course. The course brought in a lot of wealth in humanitarian crisis management. I enjoyed the quizzes as these helped to think through how to manage situations in practical terms. "

"What a wonderful course, it far exceeded my expectations. I have learnt so much both from the formal course materials and the discussion. The variety of comments from such a diverse range of participants really opened my eyes to the breadth of perspectives and opinions. "

Who will you learn with?

Director of the Health in Humanitarian Crises and Associate Professor in Health Systems Research at LSHTM

I'm a social scientist and deputy director of the Health in Humanitarian Crises Centre at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. I also work at the Centre of African Studies at U Edinburgh

I am Associate Professor in Health Systems and Policy at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, with a research focus on mental health and NCDs among conflict-affected populations

Who developed the course?

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is a world leader in research and postgraduate education in public and global health. Its mission is to improve health and health equity worldwide.

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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