Global guidance to humanitarian organizations on the care for noncommunicable diseases in sudden onset disasters
Teinilä, Virpi (2019)
2019
Master's Degree Programme in Public and Global Health
Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2019-09-10
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-201907222706
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-201907222706
Tiivistelmä
Sudden onset disasters (SOD) can have serious health impacts for patient with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). The international community that responds and supports the affected health systems needs to be able to ensure continuity of care for NCDs, irrespective of the underlying disease burden, context or the type of disaster that causes ill health.
Previous research has identified challenges in delivering NCD care in emergencies, and humanitarian organizations have been identified as having potential in improving NCD care. This paper explores how humanitarian non-governmental organizations providing basic clinical outpatient care are guided to address NCDs in SODs. This research focuses on analyzing the current guidance provided by leading agencies coordinating humanitarian responses for overarching themes, as well as for technical details. Further, the study examines whether the information in the guiding documents is clear enough to support organizational decision-making processes for the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to enable good quality and evidence-based NCD care in the field.
The study design was a qualitative document analysis. The data were gathered from globally known, referenced and recommended documents within the humanitarian field. The study material consisted of global guidance for humanitarian health care, as well as guidance for NCD treatment and medication and prequalified material kits that are used in emergencies. Study material was identified in a systematic manner. The data were drawn and analyzed to complement the WHO Health systems framework by following thematic analysis.
The study found that the global guidance for NCD care in SODs does include a lot of information; however, the information is fragmented and does not translate well to practice. It re-quires substantial efforts to accumulate the needed level of detail for both the organizations developing disaster response, as well as for clinicians caring for those with NCDs.
To conclude, further studies in the response patterns of humanitarian NGOs including NCD care would be beneficial. The global guidance could be more user-friendly with minor editing. Finally, creation of technical detailed guidance especially targeted for humanitarian response could improve the health of those suffering from NCDs.
Previous research has identified challenges in delivering NCD care in emergencies, and humanitarian organizations have been identified as having potential in improving NCD care. This paper explores how humanitarian non-governmental organizations providing basic clinical outpatient care are guided to address NCDs in SODs. This research focuses on analyzing the current guidance provided by leading agencies coordinating humanitarian responses for overarching themes, as well as for technical details. Further, the study examines whether the information in the guiding documents is clear enough to support organizational decision-making processes for the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to enable good quality and evidence-based NCD care in the field.
The study design was a qualitative document analysis. The data were gathered from globally known, referenced and recommended documents within the humanitarian field. The study material consisted of global guidance for humanitarian health care, as well as guidance for NCD treatment and medication and prequalified material kits that are used in emergencies. Study material was identified in a systematic manner. The data were drawn and analyzed to complement the WHO Health systems framework by following thematic analysis.
The study found that the global guidance for NCD care in SODs does include a lot of information; however, the information is fragmented and does not translate well to practice. It re-quires substantial efforts to accumulate the needed level of detail for both the organizations developing disaster response, as well as for clinicians caring for those with NCDs.
To conclude, further studies in the response patterns of humanitarian NGOs including NCD care would be beneficial. The global guidance could be more user-friendly with minor editing. Finally, creation of technical detailed guidance especially targeted for humanitarian response could improve the health of those suffering from NCDs.