Program Overview

Course Plan for Health Assistance in Humanitarian Crises

Introduction

The course plan for Health Assistance in Humanitarian Crises is designed to provide students with the necessary knowledge, skills, and strategies to work as humanitarian health assistance personnel.

Basdata

Course Information

• Course code: 9K9004
• Course name: Health Assistance in Humanitarian Crises
• Credits: 12
• Education form: Commissioned education (university credits)
• Main field of study: Public Health Science
• Level: Advanced level
• Grading scale: Failed (U) or passed (G)
• Department responsible: Department of Global Public Health
• Decision-making body: Education Committee PHS
• Date of establishment:
• Revised by: Education Committee GPH
• Latest revision:
• The course plan applies from: Autumn semester 2023

Särskild Behörighet

Special Eligibility

• Legitimized healthcare professionals and other health professionals with relevant backgrounds.

Mĺl

Objectives

The purpose of the course is to provide students with the necessary competence, strategies, and tools to work as humanitarian health assistance personnel.

After completing the course, the student should be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

• Explain the humanitarian context and principles for humanitarian assistance
• Describe and explain the general global health situation and factors that affect trends and variations, as well as summarize strategies relevant to improved global health
• Describe the global burden of common infectious diseases, transmission, vulnerability, clinical manifestation, and management
• Describe the global burden of common diseases and conditions in women related to sexual and reproductive health, as well as their clinical manifestations and management
• Describe the global burden of common diseases and conditions in children, as well as their clinical manifestations and management

Skills, Ability, Judgment, and Approach

In the humanitarian context, the student should be able to:

• Identify, interpret, and compile information about the interaction between hazardous events, vulnerable populations, and health problems
• Evaluate health strategies that limit morbidity and mortality
• Plan health promotion programs
• Plan for optimal healthcare based on disease burden and limited resources with an ethical approach
• Argue for the most important components for controlling infectious diseases
• Plan interventions for the prevention and management of women's and children's health, including acute malnutrition

Innehĺll

Content

The course is based on the global health situation and factors that determine it. It shows how different types of disasters affect health. The course highlights health strategies aimed at reducing morbidity and mortality. It also provides concrete tools for planning and implementing humanitarian health assistance.

The course covers a total of eight weeks with combined campus and web-based learning.

The course focuses on humanitarian health assistance based on the following core areas:

• Global health
• Infectious diseases and epidemic outbreaks
• Maternal and child health

In addition to the core areas, the course also covers non-communicable diseases, mental health, and ethical dilemmas.

Detailed Content

• Global health variations and health in disasters
  • The global health situation and health determinants
  • Health systems
  • Basic principles of epidemiology
  • Chronic diseases and
  • Mental health
  • Humanitarian health assistance, principles, and focus:
    • main actors and coordination
    • needs assessment and planning of interventions
    • standards and guidelines
    • health priorities
    • health promotion efforts
    • trauma and mass casualty management
• Infectious diseases and epidemic outbreaks
  • The global health situation - infectious diseases and epidemic outbreaks
  • Common infectious diseases, including pneumonia, diarrheal diseases, malaria, tuberculosis
  • Principles for controlling infectious diseases, including immunization programs and other global strategies
  • Strategies for epidemic outbreaks
  • Rational use of antibiotics and other medicines
• Maternal and child health
  • Maternal health, including sexual and reproductive health
  • The global health situation for maternal health
  • Safe motherhood
  • Family planning and abortion care
  • Health strategies and interventions for sexual and gender-based violence, including female genital mutilation
  • The global health situation related to children's health
  • Integrated management of childhood illnesses
  • Neonatology and care of the newborn
  • Preventive, integrated, and curative healthcare for common childhood diseases and child health threats
  • Care and management of malnutrition

Arbetsformer

Working Methods

• Interactive lectures
• Discussion seminars
• Case-based group work
• Clinical simulation exercises

Examination

Examination

The course is examined individually through a written exam.

The course also includes mandatory seminars where case-based group work is presented, with feedback from another student group.

The student receives a final grade for the entire course (Passed/Failed). To pass, the student must pass the individual examination and have participated in and presented all group assignments.

Mandatory Participation

The examiner assesses whether and how absence from mandatory educational components can be made up. Before the student has participated in the mandatory educational components or made up for absence in accordance with the examiner's instructions, the study results cannot be finalized.

Limitation of Examination Opportunities

The student has the right to participate in six examination opportunities. If the student is not passed after four examination opportunities, they are encouraged to consult the study advisor.

Litteraturlista och övriga läromedel

Literature List and Other Teaching Materials

Additional material and reference literature will be added during the course

• WHO (2013) Pocket book of Hospital care for children: Guidelines for the management of common illnesses with limited resources, 2nd edition: , WHO, 2013
• WHO child growth standards and the identification of severe acute malnutrition in infants and children , WHO/Unicef, Geneva, 2009
• Essential drugs: Practical guidelines: , Medecins Sans Frontieres, 2016
• Health in Humanitarian Emergencies :Principles and Practice for Public Health and Healthcare Practitioners , Townes, David, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2018 - 1 online resource (504 pages) ISBN: , LIBRIS-ID: nxptc9rxl8xz7jq8, Table of contents / Abstracts,
• Jacobsen, Introduction to Global Health , Jones and Bartlett Learning, 2018 LIBRIS-ID:
• Eriksson, Anneli, Estimating needs in disasters , University of Bergen, 2020 pages 17-29,
• Cuesta, Gil, Improving the evidence base of health interventions in humanitarian crises , University of Antwerp, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, 2020 pages 29 - 82,
• Clinical guidelines: Diagnosis and treatment manual for curative programmes in hospitals and dispensaries , Medecins Sans Frontieres, 2023
• Essential drugs: Practical guidelines: , Médecins Sans Frontičres, 2023
• A Guidance document for medical teams responding to health emergencies in armed conflicts and other insecure environments , World Health Organization. Geneva, 2021
• Classification and minimum standards for foreign medical teams in sudden onset disasters , World Health Organization: Geneva, 2021