Publications

The objectives are as follows: To identify, synthesise and evaluate the effects of health system and other interventions aimed at improving maternal, newborn and women's reproductive health in crisis settings.

Worldwide, humanitarian crises impact significantly on public health, health infrastructure and the delivery of health care (WHO 2012). A humanitarian crisis can be understood as '...a situation in which there is an exceptional and generalized threat to human life, health or subsistence. These crises usually appear within the context of an existing situation of a lack of protection where a series of pre‐existent factors (poverty, inequality, lack of access to basic services) exacerbated by a natural disaster or armed conflict, multiply the destructive effects' (Francesch 2010). Humanitarian crises are generally grouped into the following three categories: 

• natural disasters (e.g. earthquakes, floods, storms and volcanic eruptions);
• man‐made disasters (e.g. conflicts, plane and train crashes, fires and industrial accidents); and 
• complex emergencies (Humanitarian Coalition)

We assessed symptoms of psychological distress among a population-based sample of 9000-plus adults in Burundi during (1998) and after (2007) armed conflict. After exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to an 8-item, self-report measure, we identified two domains of psychological distress “Depression/Anxiety” and “Functioning” with good fit to data. The questionnaire was invariant in males and females. Depression and Anxiety symptoms during conflict were more frequently reported than Functioning symptoms; all symptoms were more frequently reported by women. Psychological distress was found in 44 % of individuals during conflict and in 29 % 2 years after the conflict. Results call for further research in Burundi that can inform the development of mental health interventions.

The effectiveness of humanitarian programs normally is evaluated according to a limited number of pre-defined objectives. These objectives typically rep- resent only selected positive expected impacts of program interventions and as such, are inadequate benchmarks for understanding the overall effective- ness of aid. This is because programs also have unexpected impacts (both pos- itive and negative) as well as expected negative impacts and expected positive impacts beyond the program objectives. The authors contend that these other categories of program impacts also should be assessed, and suggest a method- ology for doing so that draws on input from the perspectives of beneficiaries. This paper includes examples of the use of this methodology in the field. Finally, the authors suggest future directions for improving this type of expanded assessment and advocate for its widespread use, both within and without the field of disaster response.

On Nov 1, 2023, the only cancer hospital in Gaza ceased functioning. The Turkish–Palestinian Friendship Hospital in Gaza had already been seriously damaged by Israeli airstrikes, but it was the shortage of fuel that forced its closure. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned that the lives of 70 patients were at risk. Reports subsequently emerged that four patients had died due to insufficient medical care. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which supported the Turkish–Palestinian Friendship Hospital, published a social media post stating how the entry of fuel into Gaza, which is essential for powering hospitals, is being prevented by the Israeli authorities and that hospitals and health-care facilities continue to be attacked. There are grave concerns that insufficient fuel supplies will eventually mean incubators and oxygen machines will shut down, the water and sanitation system will collapse, and trucks carrying life-saving supplies will not reach their destination.

Objective

The US government detains hundreds of thousands of migrants across a network of facilities each year. This research aims to evaluate the completeness of standards across US detention agencies to protect the health and dignity of migrants.

Design

 Five documents from three US agencies were examined in a systematic review: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE; 3), Customs and Border Protection (CBP; 1) and Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR; 1). Standards within five public health categories (health, hygiene, shelter, food and nutrition, protection) were extracted from each document and coded by subcategory and area. Areas were classified as critical, essential or supportive. Standards were measured for specificity, measurability, attainability, relevancy and timeliness (SMART), resulting in a sufficiency score (0%–100%). Average sufficiency scores were calculated for areas and agencies.

Results

 711 standards were extracted within 5 categories, 12 subcategories and 56 areas. 284 standards of the 711 standards were included in multiple (2–7) areas, resulting in 1173 standards counted as many times as each was included. On average, 85.4% of standards were specific, 87.1% measurable, 96.6% attainable and 74.9% time-bound. All standards were considered relevant. CBP standards were the least sufficient across all other SMART components, when compared with ICE and ORR.

Background

Colombia hosts a large number of Venezuelan migrants and refugees who are uniquely vulnerable and have been markedly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is necessary to understand their experiences to inform future policy decisions both in Colombia and during disease outbreaks in other humanitarian contexts in the future. As part of a larger study focused on HIV among Venezuelans residing in Colombia, qualitative interviews were conducted to understand this population's experiences and access to healthcare.

Methods

Interviews were conducted with Venezuelan migrants and refugees as well as stakeholders such as care providers, humanitarian workers, and government officials. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded using thematic content analysis. Select quotes were translated and edited for length and/or clarity.

Results

Venezuelan migrants and refugees reported high levels of housing instability, job instability, increased barriers to accessing healthcare, and complications in engaging in the HIV care continuum, among other impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stakeholders reported complications in provision of care and obtaining medicines, difficulty maintaining contact with patients, increased discrimination and xenophobia targeting Venezuelan migrants and refugees, increased housing instability among Venezuelan migrants and refugees, and other impacts as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Humanitarian crises pose a major threat to health and dignity worldwide. There is a need for evidence-based interventions in humanitarian settings to maximise the impact of efforts to respond to pressing needs. Our first Humanitarian Health Evidence Review (HHER1), led by a team from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and published in 2015, was the first publication of its kind to provide a comprehensive assessment of the evidence base for humanitarian health interventions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

As we approach a decade since the creation of our Research for Health in Humanitarian Crises (R2HC) programme, and in recognition of the persistent need for evidence-informed public health response in diverse and complex humanitarian settings, we have taken stock of humanitarian health research published since the first review was conducted. We are pleased to present here the second Humanitarian Health Evidence Review (HHER2), which reflects a collaboration between Elrha and the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health, led by Shannon Doocy, Emily Lyles and Hannah Tappis.  

HHER2 provides a thorough mapping of the quantity and quality of evidence examining the effectiveness of health interventions in humanitarian settings in LMICs. It captures peer-reviewed evidence published since 2013 and offers an analysis of critical strengths and weaknesses in the evidence base across priority humanitarian health areas: communicable disease control; water, sanitation and hygiene; nutrition; sexual and reproductive health, and gender-based violence; mental health and psychosocial support; non-communicable diseases; injury and physical rehabilitation; health service delivery; and health systems.

Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) strongly inhibits HIV replication. However, many patients show suboptimal immune recovery (SIR), as defined by virological suppression (i.e. low viral load) with a CD4+ T-cell count of ? 200 cells/mm3, after HAART initiation. Here, we performed a systematic evaluation of the SIR prevalence among HIV-infected patients in cohort studies. We searched PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, CNKI, Wanfang database, and Chinese Biomedicine Database for cohort studies about HIV-infected participants whose CD4+ T-cell count was ? 200 cells/mm3 but still had virological suppression after HAART initiation. The SIR prevalence from each of those cohort studies was pooled into a random-effect meta-analysis. We obtained two kinds of pooled post-HARRT initiation SIR prevalence: one among participants with virological suppression (11 cohort studies involving 18,672 participants), and the other among all HIV-infected participants (seven cohort studies involving 12,063 participants). The pooled SIR prevalence among HIV-infected patients with virological suppression after HAART initiation was 43% (95% confidence interval [CI], 34-51%) at 6 months post-HAART initiation and 10% (95% CI, 5-18%) at 36 months post-HAART initiation; among all HIV-infected patients after HAART initiation, it was 17% (95% CI, 0-55%) and 5% (95% CI, 2-10%) at 6 and 36 months post-HAART initiation, respectively. The SIR prevalence among HIV-infected patients is high at 6 months post-HAART initiation, but its prevalence gradually reduces over time under continuous HAART. Thus, it is important to follow-up on variations in the CD4+ T-cell count and viral load.

This study assesses differences mortality patterns and relative hazard due to fatal occupational injuries between native and immigrant workers in the US. Fatal occupational injury data from 2003 to 2010 were examined using survival analysis based on proportional hazards models controlling for categorical variables of race, gender, occupation, and industry. Workers are stratified based on whether they are native to the US (n = 31952) or born abroad (n = 7096). Foreign-born workers are further stratified into region of birth. Foreign-born workers had an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.148 (95 % CI 1.109:1.189) relative to native workers. Stratifying foreign-born workers into region of origin revealed significantly higher adjusted risk of work fatality relative to native workers for most foreign regions. Of fatally injured workers, foreign-born workers have shorter survival before succumbing to traumatic injury during their time of occupational ‘exposure’ in the workforce. Native-born workers tend to incur fatal injuries at older ages after longer ‘exposure’.