The Humanitarian Health Evidence Review

The following key terms and concepts relate to this systematic literature review, their definitions having been adapted from the World Health Organization (WHO) Humanitarian Health Action Dictionary.[1]

Public Health Intervention: Public health actions that seek to improve health outcomes.

Humanitarian crisis: A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society causing widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources, necessitating a request to national or international level for external assistance.  The disaster situation may either be manmade (e.g. armed conflict) or a natural phenomenon (e.g. drought).

Man-made humanitarian disasters: These include international armed conflicts; non-international armed conflicts; and other situations of violence.[2]

Natural disasters: These include hazardous natural phenomena leading to humanitarian crises such as earthquakes, volcanic activity, landslides, tsunamis, tropical cyclones and other severe storms, tornadoes and high winds, floods, and droughts.

Early Recovery: Early Recovery is defined as recovery that begins early in a humanitarian setting.  It is a multi-dimensional process, guided by development principles. It aims to generate self-sustaining nationally owned and resilient processes for post-crisis recovery.

[1] World Health Organization (WHO). Humanitarian Health Action Dictionary. 2013  [cited August 29, 2013]; Available from: http://www.who.int/hac/about/definitions/en/index.html

[2] International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), 31st International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Report: International humanitarian law and the challenges of contemporary armed conflict, 2011