Appendix II: Courses held on health in natural disasters

Courses held on health in natural disasters and on refugee health care

WHO course on Health Aspects and Relief Managements in Natural Disasters, Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, University of Louvain, Brussels, Belgium

· Held in October 1980; further course planned for Turkey 1982

· Two weeks residential

· Sponsored by the World Health Organisation

· Course Director - Professor Lechat

· Participants: 30 senior health officials from 20 disaster-prone countries

· Cost - sponsored by WHO

· Aims of course - exchange of knowledge and information regarding emergency preparedness; identify health problems and managerial deficiencies; provide elements of relief co-ordination and promote a professional approach based on assessment of needs and use of local resources

· Subject covered included:

- medical and nursing care
- communicable diseases and surveillance
- surveys, famine relief and nutritional problems
- refugee camps
- environmental health protection
- medical supplies
- international assistance

· Lectures, simulation exercise, group discussions

Courses held at the Institute for the Study and Epidemiology of Disasters, University of Bordeaux, France: the epidemiology of disasters and training in emergency medicine

· Held in November 1979, yearly since thus and planned to continue annually

· Three weeks residential

· Course Director: Professor M Gillet

· Participants: 15-30, mainly doctors, a few (± 20%) post basic nurses

· Aims of course: training in:

- emergency care
- epidemiology and planning
- general epidemiology of disasters

· Subjects covered include:

- overview
- general studies of disaster situations
- types of disasters - natural, man-made and technological
- disaster and prevention
- epidemiology and planning
- behavioural and sociological aspects of disasters
- emergency medicine in disaster situations.

· Lectures, groups discussions, simulation exercices and practical experience in emergency medicine

Courses held on refugee health care

“Health Care in Refugee Camps”

Ross Institute of Tropical Hygiene,
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,
University of London, UK.

· Held annually since 1980

· One-week non-residential course in June

· Held in collaboration with the World Health Organisation and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

· Course Director - Stephanie Simmonds

· Participants - 50-80, mainly nurses and doctors, some nutritionists, environmental health engineers and administrators

· Aim of course - to demonstrate usefulness of community health care so that potential workers will have an appreciation for the activities they will need to be involved in

· Subjects covered include:

- overview of world refugee problem

- role of international organisations

- cultural, political, social and economic factors

- health planning

- practical epidemiology including census and surveys

- control of communicable diseases including immunisation

- environmental health

- feeding programmes

- health centre activities including curative care

- health management

- training refugees

- personal health care

· Lectures, case studies, films and group discussions Pre- and post-course evaluation

· Register of potential field workers for use by the Red Cross, Oxfam and Save the Children Fund

“Overseas Refugee Health Programme”

Division of Population, Family and International Health
School of Public Health
University of Los Angeles at California, USA

· Held annually since 1980

· 10 sessions every Tuesday 17.00-19.00 between April and June

· Course Director - Professor Derrick Jelliffe

· Participants - about 30, mixture of MPH students and undergraduates

· Aim: make different groups aware of health problems and outline approaches to solving them

· Subjects covered include:

- organisation of health services
- surveillance
- infections
- appropriate health services
- contributions of voluntary agencies
- feeding programmes
- environmental health
- health education
- training
- long-term considerations

· Case studies and discussions

· Student evaluation by take-home examination, problem solving exercise

Refugee health care

Subject also taught on the:

- Master of Science in Community Health in Developing Countries, Ross Institute, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine;

- Overseas Doctors’ Course, Institute of Tropical Hygiene, Heidelberg, Germany;

- Diploma in International Health Development, Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands;

- Tropical Institute, Basle, Switzerland.

Other courses held

- National Red Cross societies, some societies only;

- International Red Cross (ICRO and League) held a seminar in 1981 to decide on policies on approach to health problems. Monograph still to be published as a guide to national societies in training health personnel for emergency actions;

- Most other voluntary agencies tend only to give (brief) briefing sessions en-route to airport;

- Disaster management and preparedness, Oxford Programme of Development Workshops 1982, Faculty of Architecture, Planning and Estate Management, Oxford Polytechnic, Oxford, United Kingdom, 24 January - 2 April 1982 of which three weeks include health topics. Aimed at public health officials, planners, engineers;

- Pan American Health Organisation, disaster preparedness especially in the Carribean.