Professor Bertrand Yersin, Head of the Interdisciplinary Emergency Centre of the Lausanne University Medical Centre (CHUV), Switzerland, chaired the discussion and opened it by asking how different humanitarian organisations were coordinating their efforts to improve results.
In response to this, Mr. Gnaedinger, Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross, explained that there was currently an UN reform process under way that had three specific objectives:
- Quick assessment of situations
- Definition and agreement on the response
- Definition of the roles of the different organisations
He further explained that the basic idea of this reform was to bring the different international organisations together in a "health cluster" so that they could achieve an efficient division of labour that would avoid them working against each other.
He specified, however, that this process was essentially lead by the United Nations (UN) and that the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) were trying to preserve a certain degree of autonomy to allow for more rapid and flexible responses in emergency situations.
To complement this information, Mr. Mostafa Mohaghegh, Iran, an advisor in disaster management, mentioned some points that have to be taken into consideration by relief organisations before they move into the field:
- Health assistance should be based on specific needs, to be determined by the local populations instead of outsiders;
- Response should be as fast as possible;
- To minimise costs, existing resources should be used rather than transported in from abroad;
- The intervention has to be complementary to the local context, which is why it is essential to consult the authorities and to conduct thorough research beforehand;
- Interventions should not be short-term, but sustainable in the long run.
Although these models for interventions are good in theory, the challenge is to translate them into practice, especially in dangerous situations. In this context Mr. Gnaedinger specified the necessity of engaging into dialogue with governments, to "fix the rules of the game", to clarify responsibilities, and to set exact times for interventions in order to avoid being caught in military or other actions.
As a conclusion, it could be said that if humanitarian relief agencies are able to quickly assess the requirements of people in crises and work together in a coordinated way, they might be able to achieve very positive results and learn from past mistakes.
