Complicating humanitarian emergencies

Humanitarian emergencies may create conditions for infectious disease outbreaks, and outbreaks in turn can make humanitarian emergencies more difficult and complicated. This chapter reviews the humanitarian system including humanitarian principles, the humanitarian space, and significant actors in relation to how outbreaks can occur and be managed during humanitarian emergencies. Topics covered here include early warning and alert systems, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) initiatives, nutrition, and vaccination. Comprehensive response to a health crisis in a humanitarian emergency or disaster setting often requires a strategic compromise between clinical and public health protocols and pragmatic considerations. Responses will usually involve strategies to cope with laboratory incapacity (e.g., rapid diagnostic tests), appropriate case management strategies, ample logistics planning, and community engagement for effective infection prevention and control.