Needs Assessment for Humanitarian Crisis

Discuss about the Challenges of Emergency Health Response during Crisis.

Humanitarian crisis refers to a single event or set of events that threatens people in relation to health, safety along with well-being pertaining to the community. The conflict can be internal or external and it generally occurs over a large expanse of area. The humanitarian crisis arise on account of various factors and the humanitarian crisis needs response that is targeted towards that of a particular sector (Sphereproject.org., 2018). The humanitarian crisis leaves behind distressed people in its wake and health interventions becomes necessary in order to rejuvenate the health of the people. Emergency health responses should be provided to the distressed people and it can prove to be useful in alleviating the misery of the people. This essay discusses about the challenges in relation to humanitarian crisis and the manner of dealing with the challenges. It also illuminates on the lessons that can be learnt from the challenges.

Needs assessment becomes crucial for the planning and monitoring in relation to a humanitarian crisis. Needs assessment helps the organizations in identifying and measuring humanitarian needs in relation to that of a disaster-affected community. The needs assessment need different methods for the purpose of analysing of information. The organizations have to make the decisions so that the allocation of resources can be done. The co-ordination of the health response can be attained with proper decision making taking place at different levels within an organization. It becomes necessary to put the information together that can help in building a full picture in relation to needs of disaster affected community (Olu et al.,  2015).  The coordinated needs assessment is generally carried out with the help of a central body but it has been found that the priorities of people differ that becomes a challenge for that of co-ordinated health response.

Co-ordination pertaining to the logistical activities becomes a challenge for the health workers in case of a humanitarian crisis. The dearth pertaining to the vehicles along with fuel proves to be a challenge for the health workers in the event of a humanitarian crisis. The delivery of the vaccines becomes a logistics problems in the case of a humanitarian crisis due to the acute shortage of vehicles. The areas that are affected by natural or man-made disasters are the poor countries and remote regions and they do not have the proper infrastructure that the health workers can take recourse to for lessening of the woes of the people. The human development in these regions are in a poor state that creates problems related to logistics (Shrivastava, Shrivastava & Ramasamy, 2016). The number pertaining to the victims becomes more on account of inadequate infrastructure and due to the lack of that of transport connectivity.

Challenges in Coordinating Logistical Activities

The costs pertaining to humanitarian assistance have risen and it becomes difficult for the health workers to address the problems of the people. Current system pertaining to short-term funding can prove to be appropriate in relation to sudden emergencies but they prove to be ineffective in the arena of transnational context. Multi-year funding can help in the arena of successful resilience programming and it can help in driving humanitarian assistance (Nickerson et al., 2015).  Short-term financing that is prevalent in the current times proves to be inappropriate for most of the cases of humanitarian crisis.

The natural along with man-made disasters produce a lot of human suffering and these can spread across different geographies. The families become internally displaced people and they look for safety in that of the other regions. The aid agencies have to deliver aid to the people who are in need and any kind of disasters creates inaccessible ports along with bridges that become a cause of concern for the health care workers (Salerno et al., 2016).  The health workers are affected by the physical obstacles along with administrative hurdles. The aid workers have limited capacity pertaining to storing along with the transporting of the supplies in a secure manner. The humanitarian workers have to face direct threats that accounts for the difficulty for the people in that of the affected region. The shipments in the event of humanitarian crisis take a long time to reach the destination on account of the disbanding of board of pharmacy and the officers that are newly appointed impose different kinds of importation rules (Tappero et al., 2017). The delays taking place proves to be detrimental for the health care workers who cannot help the people who are in the state of crisis. The places where the hospitals are in are also attacked and the aid workers cannot help the distressed people. It has been found that entire population gets affected in the case of a conflict and they need the humanitarian assistance that can help them in meeting their basic needs. The humanitarian workers need the support of the government and in the event of lack of support from that of the government they face a lot of hindrances in relation to financing (Kamradt-Scott, 2016) The drawbacks in the field of logistics makes it difficult for the humanitarian workers to send their supplies in the affected region. There are various parts of the country that are difficult of getting access to and their location in the isolated regions makes it difficult for the aid workers. The roads are often not paved and the bridges are unusable which makes it difficult for that of the humanitarian workers. The security situation in the affected region makes internal flights rare and the humanitarian workers cannot get access to the affected region.

Rising Costs and Ineffective Short-term Funding

International humanitarian sector is affected by government donors along with European Union. They help in controlling two-third of the total funds that is channelled by taking recourse to a formal system. The engagement with that of the local NGO’s should not be in the form of any kind of sub-contracting arrangement. The relationship with the NGO should be that of genuine strategic relationship that can help in driving the aid responses. It is necessary to open the funding structure of the system that leads to the creation of the threats and the international aid agencies can hand the responsibility to the other organizations that can act like a competitor in terms of funding. The senior leaders should be made answerable to that of the boards that can help in the aspect of maintaining of funding. The contracts should be made performance-based that can help in encouraging opportunism within that of the unpredictable business (Silander & Wallace, 2015). The high level pertaining to financial certainty can pave the path for opportunism that can discourage the NGO from the seeking of the complementary roles. The organizations should focus on the aspect of donors and the winning contracts can help in the aspect of maintaining greater accountability at the times of humanitarian crisis. It is important to let go of power and any kind of political biases and the humanitarian donor should reduce that of the barriers that can help in financing the local NGOs. The UN agencies should work in a collaborative manner with the local NGO’s that can help the aid workers.

An integrated approach should be adopted that can help in removing the challenges for the health care workers at the time of a humanitarian crisis. Critical communication in relation to the NGO’s can prove to be greatly effective for the humanitarian workers and it can help them in responding to that of urgent situations within that of the world (Pottie et al., 2015). Partnership can be created that can help in meeting communication needs for the aid workers that can remove the barriers for the humanitarian workers. Humanitarian Innovation Fund can help in supporting the core grants which is related to that of the humanitarian aid. The humanitarian workers can take recourse to these funding that can help in saving the lives of the people in the distressed regions. UNICEF Innovation Fund can help in the aspect of venture investment infrastructure that can help the humanitarian workers in the arena of funding. This fund can benefit the healthcare workers that can bring about innovations across that of the globe.

Obstacles in Providing Aid and Assistance

The lessons learnt from the challenges are that it is important to reconcile differences at that of the local and national level that can help the humanitarian workers. Political pressure should be removed that can help in removing the bottlenecks pertaining to the humanitarian crisis. The co-ordination across that of different sectors remains a grappling issue and this should be removed so that the humanitarian workers can render effective service in the vulnerable regions at the time of national or man-made disaster (Ager, Fiddian-Qasmiyeh & Ager, 2015). The collaboration with the other partners who are working in other sectors can help in removing the challenges for the humanitarian workers. The collaboration in different sector like water, sanitation, management and agriculture can help the humanitarian workers in carrying out their functions in the proper manner. The health sector partner do not have adequate knowledge in relation to health transition and the appropriate guidelines pertaining to health recovery can prove to be advantageous for the humanitarian workers.

Conclusion

Needs assessment is pivotal in relation to the planning of the activities in relation to the humanitarian crisis. The needs assessment can prove to be beneficial for the organizations for measuring humanitarian needs within that of the disaster affected community. The proper co-ordination pertaining to logistical activities proves to be a challenge for that of the humanitarian workers at the time of a crisis. The lack of the fuel and the fuel becomes challenging for humanitarian workers in the event of a humanitarian crisis. The vaccines cannot be delivered at the proper time which emerges to become a problem related to logistics that badly affects the humanitarian workers. The fostering of a genuine strategic relationship with that of the NGO’s can help in providing support to the people who are in the distressed regions. Funding structure should be opened that can help in removing threats for the health care workers working at the vulnerable regions. International agencies can play a leading part in handing over responsibility to other organizations that can prove to be greatly useful in the aspect of funding. The building of partnerships can meet the communication needs for the humanitarian workers and it can help in removing barriers in the path of the humanitarian workers. Humanitarian Innovation Fund can support core agents pertaining to humanitarian aid. The UNICEF Innovation Fund can provide help in the arena of venture investment that can geatly help the humanitarian workers.

References:

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Salerno, J., Hlaing, W. M., Weiser, T., Striley, C., Schwartz, L., Angulo, F. J., & Neslund, V. S. (2016). Emergency response in a global health crisis: epidemiology, ethics, and Ebola application. Annals of epidemiology, 26(4), 234-237.

Shrivastava, S. R., Shrivastava, P. S., & Ramasamy, J. (2016). Risk communication: An integral element in public health emergencies. International journal of preventive medicine, 7.

Silander, D., & Wallace, D. (Eds.). (2015). International Organizations and the Implementation of the Responsibility to Protect: The Humanitarian Crisis in Syria. Routledge.

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Tappero, J. W., Cassell, C. H., Bunnell, R. E., Angulo, F. J., Craig, A., Pesik, N., … & Group, G. H. S. S. (2017). US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its partners’ contributions to global health security. Emerging infectious diseases, 23(Suppl 1), S5.

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