Haiti Case Study - The Department of Global Health and Social ...

KEY TAKEAWAYS
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IDEAS TO TAKE FORWARD
86. Experience suggests that issues in coordinating global actors in a humanitarian
disaster response are a recurring theme. Much has been achieved to improve an effective
and coherent effort by international community: landmarks include the UN clusters system on
the humanitarian side and the integrated mission approach with joint civil-military tasking
centres on the security side. However, further improvement is needed by all involved actors
through a process of continuous learning to achieve a more efficient and effective holistic
response to crises; particularly in times of financial austerity.
87. A review of the responses to the health threats in this case study has identified three
main takeaways worthy of consideration by global crisis responders to develop future
frameworks for strengthening state health systems:
a. In an overwhelming, chaotic, disaster situation the security community might be an
appropriate contributor to strengthen some elements of the health system:
• By securing the supply chain;
• By contributing to the health service delivery in providing surge secondary and
tertiary care to assist health organizations regaining their pre-crisis levels of
functioning;
• By supporting local and international leadership by providing security to health
stakeholders.
b. Coordination among the key actors from the humanitarian and security community in
the health sector is essential and requires long-term relationship to ensure:
• Mutual understanding among the security and humanitarian communities such that
coordination mechanisms are in place prior to crisis responses;
• Interoperability of the different coordination mechanisms;
• During crises, threats to health systems are detected and responded to quickly, to
ensure health resources are delivered and administered as efficiently and effectively
as possible, and patients receive appropriate care that is coordinated and
standardized across care providing organizations;
• That Host Nation governance over the responders is clarified and supported by all
means.
c. An efficient and pragmatic way for coordination among the humanitarian and security
communities is to create, and for all actors to contribute to, a commonly shared health
information picture which is essential for timely service delivery and early detection of
health threats. New technologies proved to support a holistic picture to disaster response:
• Crowd sourcing, cell phone tracking data, satellite imagery, and social media
contributed to mapping the disaster zone, understanding health system functioning,
detecting health threats, and tracking the spread of cholera. These techniques and
data sources have the potential to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of crisis
response and management;
• Information sharing tools to facilitate mutual interaction are currently developed by
the security community but should be co-developed and designed in partnership
with the humanitarian community.
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