11 June 2010 ¦ GENEVA -- The global body for coordinating health response in humanitarian emergencies ended a high-level meeting here today, identifying ways to improve the international community's ability to respond to public health needs during natural disasters, conflicts and other emergencies.
The Global Health Cluster met for two days and was attended by senior officers from United Nations agencies, nongovernmental organizations, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and humanitarian donors, including the United States, United Kingdom and European Commission (ECHO).
The cluster system was created five years ago following the 2004 Asian Tsunami when the international community undertook the "Humanitarian Reform" to improve the way in which humanitarian actors in all sectors, including health care providers, work together to deliver the best possible service.
"We have drawn lessons from our actions in many emergencies, from Afghanistan to Haiti, and while there is no doubt that the Health Cluster has helped improve the humanitarian response to save more lives in emergencies, we know we must do more to prevent another repeat of what happened in Port-au-Prince," says Dr Eric Laroche, the Chair of the Global Health Cluster and WHO's Assistant Director-General for Health Action in Crises.
Haiti's 12 January 2010 earthquake not only inflicted large-scale human suffering. It also decimated the Haitian government, including its health authorities, and generated a largescale international humanitarian response. In Haiti the Health Cluster faced a major challenge to effectively coordinate hundreds of different agencies offering to provide health services. The Global Health Cluster meeting reviewed the experience in Haiti and extracted lessons for future humanitarian operations.
"It is just a matter of time before the next disaster happens in another capital city in the world, many of which are very vulnerable," says Dr Laroche. "The Health Cluster needs to do more to help vulnerable cities better prepare for these emergencies, while at the same time improve how the cluster itself coordinates and works together in such emergencies. We cannot escape this responsibility."
The two-day meeting found that:
- Full engagement and understanding of the Health Cluster approach is needed by more governments, as well as international humanitarian bodies.
- Coordinating the activities of healthcare providers must keep improving in largescale humanitarian emergencies. For this to happen, the Health Cluster itself requires sufficient capacities.
- Information is key, and better, more coordinate assessments of the impacts of disasters are needed quickly for effectively responding to the needs.
- The Health Cluster has improved the sharing of information among health care providers and helped better plan and organize the response to emergencies.
For further information contact:
Paul Garwood
Communications officer
Health Action in Crises
World Health Organization