Emergencies and humanitarian situations due to natural disasters or conflict, pose a unique challenge to access to health services. During this time of insecurity, children and their families face increased risk of illness due to limited access to clean drinking water, sanitation, and food.
The Child Health in Emergencies and Humanitarian Settings subgroup is a platform for partners working in these settings to 1. Share information, resources, evidence, and best practices in program implementation; 2. Coordinate partner activities and development of tools at the global and country levels; 3. Advocate for resources, and 4. Develop a research and learning agenda to address merging program challenges and strengthen service delivery. The group will focus on understanding and enhancing implementation of community health interventions through evidence review, documentation of experiences, evaluations and implementation research leading to the development and dissemination of guidance for humanitarian settings.
Goal
To support resilient health systems that are able to provide equitable and comprehensive child health programs in emergencies and fragile settings.
Objectives
- Improve the understanding of the health needs of children and program design in emergency and humanitarian settings, with a focus on delivery of interventions at the community level.
- Increase availability and use of technical standards, program tools, and products that will advance child health programs in emergencies and fragile settings.
- Establish a research agenda to build evidence on child health programming in emergencies and humanitarian settings.
- Increase the skills of program managers working in emergencies and humanitarian settings.
Leadership
Chairs:
- James McQuen Patterson, UNICEF
- Andrea King, WHO Global Health Cluster