Certificate in Health Emergencies in Large Populations (H.E.L.P)

The Health Emergencies in Large Populations (HELP) course is offered by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in joint collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. The course was founded based on the need for humanitarian workers to acquire a holistic understanding of the needs of refugees, internally displaced persons, and others affected by natural disasters and conflict in order more effectively manage health crises in emergency settings. The goal of HELP is to create an understanding the of the public health needs of populations in disaster and conflict situations.This includes the background, underlying causes, and the dynamics that cause populations to be vulnerable in emergencies. Topics covered during the course include disaster management, food security and nutrition, environmental health, health and surveillance systems, humanitarian ethics, human rights and human security, conflict origins, and security for aid workers.

HELP includes on-site lectures with the sector’s leading practitioners and academics.Through in-class assignments and group exercises, students gain important skills necessary for humanitarian response, including skills in epidemiological methods and management of health emergencies.The HELP course is typically offered twice per year, over two weeks in January and three weeks in July. The course is held at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland

For more information about the H.E.L.P. Summer Institute including application information, please click here