Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs
Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies (CHRHS)

Global Emergency Response and Recovery Partner Engagement

In support of the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) mandate to ensure rapid response to public health emergencies of international concern under the Global Health Security Agenda, this CDC-funded project is a Consortium between Brown University faculty and three operational humanitarian organizations, including International Medical Corps, Africa Humanitarian Action, and Mercy Malaysia. As CDC partners under the Cooperative Agreement titled “Global Emergency Response and Recovery Partner Engagement,” the Consortium will establish comprehensive systems for sustainable clinical care surge capacity to public health emergencies around the world. The primary objective of this project is to improve response capacity, implementation, accountability, and information systems in public health programming with a focus on building clinical care capacity, with the long term goal of contributing to reduced morbidity and mortality from infectious disease outbreaks, armed conflicts, natural disasters, famine, and other public health emergencies of international concern.

During the first year of this Cooperative Agreement, Consortium members made a number of important strides in support of its primary objectives, developing a common Core Competency Framework and Operational Readiness Program that can be used to ensure that emergency clinical response staff from all three organizations are qualified to provide effective and compassionate clinical care during public health emergencies. In addition, Consortium members performed evaluations of their available training resources and assessment tools; current systems for deployment of emergency personnel; logistical and procurement procedures; and tools for monitoring and evaluation of clinical care in public health emergencies. During Year 2 of this Cooperative Agreement, Consortium members will build upon this foundation by developing a common learning repository of training resources and assessment tools; creating a human resource architecture that collects critical data on emergency response staff and volunteers; finalizing a Logistics Toolkit and Monitoring and Evaluation Toolkit that can be used to improve clinical program performance and clinical data collection during public health emergencies; and piloting new methods for gathering beneficiary feedback and ensuring accountability. In future years of this Cooperative Agreement, Consortium members will begin to test and refine these tools across the 42 countries where they are currently operational, significantly and positively impacting the delivery of clinical care in public health emergencies worldwide.