Humanitarian work often requires one to perform at their best, just as one would expect in any other job or career. It is therefore important that humanitarian workers and volunteers have an understanding of the circumstances and challenges they may face, and that preparation and training are key. Such training goes beyond the remit of general medical experience, for example, in specialities such as Accident&Emergency, Obstetrics & Gynaecology and General Practice, but will also put candidates in better stead for recruitment.

It is important that we strive to learn, improve and develop our humanitarian skills, and remain dynamic in the ever-changing face of humanitarian health inequalities, crises and aid delivery.

There are a growing number of accredited courses and academic programmes on offer that enable individuals to provide a professional service in the humanitarian field. Below is a list of courses in the UK , publications and useful links relevant to medical relief and humanitarian work.

DWW Courses

DWW is going to organize two-day relief course on "Introduction to humanitarian and medical relief work" and "Introduction to project cycle". It will be held in London-UK on 18/19 April 2009. For course brochure please click here. For course programme please click here.

DWW organized above course before in Stockport-UK on 26/27 April 2008,  in London-UK on 28 April 2007 and Birmingham-UK on 2 December 2006. All the courses were great success as stated by the participants on the evaluation form.

Other Courses

Below are links to some of the Universities that offer training in relevant to humanitarian work as well as health. Essentially, if you intend to pursue your interest in this field, public health as well as allied specialist subjects (nutrition, reproductive health, communicable disease etc) would be useful in both disaster and development contexts. There are a growing number of short as well as distance learning courses on offer from various institutions internationally, and so it should be understood that the links below are by no means exhaustive to what is available, and hence it is recommended that you use the links below as a guide and framework to develop your interests further.

www.reliefweb.int Launched in October 1996 and administered by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), ReliefWeb is the global hub for time-critical humanitarian information on Complex Emergencies and Natural Disasters. It has a information pertaining to latest updates and emergencies, as well as funding, policy, training and vacancies.

www.qmuc.ac.uk/cihs The Institute of Health and International Development at the Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh offers a range of short and full-time courses.

www.dismedmaster.com European Master in Disaster Medicine: A dedicated course in disaster medicine delivered in partnership by two European universities.

www.staffs.ac.uk Staffordshire University offers a distance learning Public Health Masters.

www.leeds.ac.uk/hsphr/ihsphr_ihd/home/index.htm The Nuffield Centre for International Health and Development and the University of Leeds offers a number of postgraduate courses as well as an undergraduate intercalated BSc International Health

www.liv.ac.uk Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance
MSc/Diploma in Humanitarian Studies
Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
MSc/Diploma in Humanitarian Programme Management

www.lshtm.ac.uk London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Diploma in Tropical Nursing

The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London
www.apothecaries.org
Diploma in the Medical Care of Catastrophes

BOND (British Oversease NGOs for Development)
www.bond.org.uk
From a training perspective, BOND offers learning opportunities in 4 main areas:

• Accessing Funding Opportunities
• International Programme Work
• Advocacy & Communication
• Organisational Learning and Development

RedR
www.redr.org
Organise training courses to form an extensive programme of courses for relief workers of all disciplines.

Merlin
www.merlin.org.uk
Offer training courses in conjunction with RedR/IHE. Examples of courses include:
Public Health in Emergencies
Nutrition in Emergencies

Books

Refugee Health An Approach to Emergency Situations, Médecins Sans Frontières, Macmillan, 1997

Sphere Handbook Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response, Sphere Project, (look out for the latest updated edition, currently July 2004)

Coping with Catastrophe A Handbook of Post-Disaster Pyschological Aftercare, PE Hodgkinson & M Stewart, Brunner-Routledge, 1998

Disaster Medicine by Gregory R. Ciottone (10 April 2006)

Introduction to International Disaster Management by Damon P. Coppola (17 Oct 2006)

ABC of Conflict and Disaster (ABC) by Anthony Redmond, P. Mahoney, Jim Ryan, and Cara Macnab (Nov 2005)

Conflict and Catastrophe Medicine: A Practical Guide by James Ryan, Peter F. Mahoney, Ian Greaves, and Gavin Bowyer (Jun 2003)

A Framework for Survival: Health, Human Rights, and Humanitarian Assistance in Conflicts and Disasters by Kevin M. Cahill and Kofi A. Annan (9 Sep 1999)

Oxford Handbook of Pre-hospital Care (Oxford Handbooks) by Ian Greaves and Keith Porter (21 Dec 2006)

Oxford Handbook of Tropical Medicine (Oxford Handbooks) by Michael Eddleston, Robert Davidson, Robert Wilkinson, and Stephen Pierini (11 Nov 2004)

Hygiene Promotion: A Practical Manual for Relief and Development by Suzanne Ferron, Joy Morgan, and Marion O'Reilly (1 Oct 2006)

Malaria Control During Mass Population Movements and Natural Disasters by National Research Council (4 Nov 2002)

Humanitarian Intervention: Ethical, Legal and Political Dilemmas by J.L. Holzgrefe and Robert O. Keohane (Paperback - 28 Feb 2003)

Do No Harm: How Aid can support Peace - or War by Mary B. Anderson (31 Mar 1999)

 

Links

Overseas Development Institute
www.odi.org.uk
Britain 's leading think-tank on international development and humanitarian issues.

Humanitarian Policy Group
www.odi.org.uk/hpg
HPG (based at the ODI) is dedicated to improving humanitarian policy and practice through a combination of high-quality analysis, dialogue and debate.

Department of Health: International humanitarian and health work- toolkit to support good practice

http://www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/07/45/76/04074576.pdf