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International Nursing Review
Volume 61, Issue 1, page 3, March 2014
Nursing and Health Policy Perspectives
Disaster training for nurses: a moral and humanitarian imperative
Professor Sue Turale DEd, RN, FACN, FACMHN Editor
Article first published online: 11 FEB 2014
DOI: 10.1111/inr.12093
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/inr.12093/full

I am sure you do not need reminding of the large-scale disasters that have plagued our planet in recent years. Global warming has played a large part in this with historic temperature variations occurring in many parts of the world, like recent snow on the pyramids of Giza, and increases in adverse weather events, such as heavy rains, floods, and typhoons. For example, the huge Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) hit the Philippines on 8 November 2013, eventually continuing its destructive path into Vietnam.

Typhoons seem to be growing in intensity in the Asia-Pacific region, and often hit areas where people are poor and local infrastructure is limited. This typhoon was the deadliest on record to affect the Philippines. As I write this editorial, bodies are still being found, and health systems are struggling to cope with the health needs of the population, especially as immediate international relief efforts wind down.

Of course there are many other types of disasters and nurses like all other health professionals need to be better equipped to deal with their aftermath. While it is not in our power to stop such terrible events in the natural world, it is in our power to be better prepared to help communities deal with losses and ongoing effects. We also can be better prepared to help ourselves, for nurses are victims of disaster, too. Although the awareness of nurses regarding disaster preparation has grown around the world over the last decade, most nurses are not yet prepared, educationally or psychologically, to respond to disasters, despite scientists warning us that such disasters will continue with possibly greater catastrophic events in the 21st century. Little is known about the numbers of nurses who were gravely affected by the typhoon, and needing direct assistance (Philippine Nurses Association 2013). This was truly a catastrophic event and while our hearts might go out to our colleagues in the Philippines and Vietnam, such sentiments are not enough. We must help nurses in these troubled areas to cope and be prepared for future disasters.

Unfortunately around the world we have only made very small inroads into providing nurses with appropriate disaster nursing education and training at undergraduate and graduate levels, and in courses offered within health systems. ‘Health systems and health care delivery in disaster situations are only successful when nurses have the fundamental disaster competencies or abilities to rapidly and effectively respond’ (World Health Organization and International Council of Nurses 2009, p. 6). Capacity building in nursing and midwifery is needed to help limit injury and death, and provide for the ongoing health and well being of communities long after the disaster event. For example, the psychological effects of disasters often last for many years, and nurses need to be trained in psychological first aid, just as they are trained in physical first aid. Nurses have a major role to play in risk assessment and in helping communities be better prepared for disasters, large or small.

I hope that everyone who reads this editorial will take steps to prepare nurses and midwives for disasters of the future, for these will pose serious and ongoing public health risks wherever they occur. We need to take urgent and critical action in all countries to ensure that nursing curricula contain some element of disaster nursing. The ICN Framework for Disaster Nursing Competencies (2009) will help in designing such courses. Specific courses for disaster nursing have been instigated in a number of countries, but often in more developed countries. Nurses need to make international efforts in this capacity building, and this involves advocating, policy-making, research, programme design and implementation. Since we are the largest group of health professionals globally, it is within our power to bring to the attention of politicians and policy-makers the urgent need to prepare nurses for disasters. After all if we don’t do it, who will?

The only certain thing about disasters is that they will happen in the future, so do your best to help nurses of the world be better prepared. I believe that this is one of our moral and humanitarian imperatives of the 21st Century.

Journal of Social Change
2014, Volume 6, Issue 1, Pages 15–26
[PDF] Health promotion and education among refugee women: a literature review
E Kimunai
The aims of this literature review were to (1) identify a comprehensive range of issues surrounding  female refugee physical health and (2) identify strategies addressing most of the critical physical health issues surrounding female refugee heath through dynamic and community-based approaches.

PhD Thesis – The right to humanitarian assistance in natural and human-made disasters: progress and challenges for an emerging international legal framework
Cubie, Douglas A.
University College Cork
https://cora.ucc.ie/handle/10468/1375
Abstract:
Natural and human-made disasters cause on average 120,000 deaths and over US$140 billion in damage to property and infrastructure every year, with national, regional and international actors consistently responding to the humanitarian imperative to alleviate suffering wherever it may be found. Despite various attempts to codify international disaster laws since the 1920s, a right to humanitarian assistance remains contested, reflecting concerns regarding the relative importance of state sovereignty vis-à-vis individual rights under international law. However, the evolving acquis humanitaire of binding and non-binding normative standards for responses to humanitarian crises highlights the increasing focus on rights and responsibilities applicable in disasters; although the International Law Commission has also noted the difficulty of identifying lex lata and lex ferenda regarding the protection of persons in the event of disasters due to the “amorphous state of the law relating to international disaster response.” Therefore, using the conceptual framework of transnational legal process, this thesis analyses the evolving normative frameworks and standards for rights-holders and duty-bearers in disasters. Determining the process whereby rights are created and evolve, and their potential internalisation into domestic law and policy, provides a powerful analytical framework for examining the progress and challenges of developing accountable responses to major disasters.

The Sustainable Neighborhoods for Happiness Index (SNHI): A metric for assessing a community’s sustainability and potential influence on happiness
S Cloutier, J Jambeck, N Scott – Ecological Indicators, 2014
… 2014. Highlights. • An index that simultaneously considers happiness and sustainable development was developed. • Context for the potential relationships between sustainable development and happiness are provided. • The …

Surgery
Available online 8 February 2014
Surgical Skills Needed for Humanitarian Missions in Resource-limited Settings: Common Operative Procedures Performed at Médecins Sans Frontières Facilities
Evan G. Wong, MD1, 2, 3, Miguel Trelles, MD, MPH, PhD4, Lynette Dominguez, MD4, Shailvi Gupta, MD2, 3, 5, Gilbert Burnham, MD, PhD2, Adam L. Kushner, MD, MPH2, 3, 6

Abstract
Background
Surgeons in high-income countries are increasingly expressing interest in global surgery and participating in humanitarian missions. Knowledge of the surgical skills required to adequately respond to humanitarian emergencies is essential to prepare such surgeons and plan for interventions.

Methods
A retrospective review of all surgical procedures performed at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Brussels facilities from June 2008 to December 2012 was performed. Individual data points included: country of project; patient age and sex; and surgical indication and surgical procedure.

Results
Between June 2008 and December 2012, a total of 93,385 procedures were performed on 83,911 patients in 21 different countries. The most common surgical indication was for fetal-maternal pathologies, accounting for 25,548/65,373 (39.1%) of all cases. The most common procedure was a Cesarean section; a total of 24,182 or 25.9% of all procedures. Herniorrhaphies (9,873/93,385, 10.6%) and minor surgeries (11,332/93,385, 12.1%) including wound debridement, abscess drainage and circumcision were also common.

Conclusions
A basic skill set that includes the ability to provide surgical care for a wide variety of surgical morbidities is urgently needed to cope with the surgical need of humanitarian emergencies. This review of MSF’s operative procedures provides valuable insight into the types of operations that an aspiring volunteer surgeon should be familiar with

[PDF] MEASURING VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN IN HUMANITARIAN SETTINGS – A scoping exercise of methods and tools.
Landis, D., Williamson, K., Fry, D. and Stark, L. (2013).
New York and London: Child Protection in Crisis (CPC) Network and Save the Children
UK.
Executive Summary [Excerpt]
From May–‐December 2013, the Child Protection in Crisis (CPC) Network and Save the Children conducted a scoping exercise in order to examine two child protection issues considered “hard to measure” in humanitarian settings: sexual violence against children and violence within the household. The goal of this exercise was to identify existing methodologies and tools to assess these issues, as well as to highlight gaps in current approaches and offer recommendations for further action…