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Addressing chronic conditions in disasters
Dr Mesfin Teklu (right) speaks at an experts panel during the Geneva Health Forum.
A platform aimed at contributing to the global debate on access to health by bringing together multi-sectoral organizations, the Geneva Health Forum focused this year’s edition on chronic illnesses and their challenges to health systems, including during humanitarian crises.
People whose health is already compromised by chronic diseases (such as diabetes, cancer, HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis and others) are more vulnerable than healthy people to the stress and disruptions caused by disasters. The absence or interruption of treatments for chronic diseases is not only life-threatening for vulnerable groups, but may also give rise to complications (e.g. stroke) resulting in a reduction in quality of life and potentially impaired livelihoods as welll as avoidable deaths.
Discussing the implications of humanitarian emergencies for people with chronic diseases, a panel of experts highlighted the sector’s growing recognition of the burden of this type of disease. They stressed the importance of better integrating the needs of those affected by chronic diseases into the design of humanitarian responses in order to reduce the related morbidity (illness) and mortality (deaths).
If this goal is to be achieved, it will be critical to implement technical guidelines, refer to best practice and integrate training on how to manage chronic diseases during emergencies.
According to Dr Mesfin Teklu, who participated in the panel, the Sphere Handbook’s chapter on health action provides standards and guidelines to address chronic conditions during emergencies.
A medical doctor with extensive experience in disaster management, Teklu presented the Handbook’s recommendations, which include:
Governments and humanitarian organizations can ensure the provision of appropriate care to people with chronic health conditions by:
Including essential drugs and supplies to cover chronic diseases in emergency health kits.
The debate also touched upon the challenges posed by the cost implications of the necessary treatments, and the decisions to be made when the national health system has not covered chronic disease in its basic packages prior to the crisis.
The panel, which included representatives from ChronAid, the Copenhagen School of Global Health, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and World Vision International, was facilitated by Dr André Griekspoor of the World Health Organization.
See Dr Mesfin Teklu’s