Combining Dedicated Online Training and Apprenticeships in the Field to Assist in Professionalization of Humanitarian Aid Workers: a 2-year Pilot Project for Anesthesia and Intensive Care Residents Working in Resource Constrained and Low-income Countries

Introduction In 2010 there was an estimated total 274,000 humanitarian workers worldwide with a growth rate of 4% from the previous year. Although the system is still dominated, in terms of operational presence and resource share, by a small group of NGOs and international organizations whose combined humanitarian expenditure in 2010 exceeded $2.7 billion, there are an estimated 4,400 NGOs worldwide that undertake humanitarian action on an ongoing basis1 . This heterogeneous and fragmented nature of the humanitarian sector has hindered its ability to efficiently respond to crises worldwide2 , and concerns have been expressed on the clinical competencies and practices by foreign medical teams (FMTs) during response to large scale disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake or the 2004 South Asian tsunami3 . This resulted in the international community calling for increased professionalization of the humanitarian sector through “an international professional association, the development of core competencies that drives curricula, and the creation of a universal certification system for aid workers”4 . A survey conducted among professionals involved in humanitarian assistance further confirmed those needs5 . In this respect, the Consortium of British Humanitarian Agencies (CBHA) published a framework for core and leadership humanitarian competencies6 that has served as a model for developing education and training curricula. However, as highlighted by the U.K. Department for...
Source: PLOS Currents Disasters - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Source Type: research