PAATCHH Curriculum Development

One of PAATCHH's goals is to develop a common set of core competencies aimed at effective, efficient, and humane practice that all entry-level humanitarian health workers should be expected to attain prior to working independently in the field, irrespective of their individual disciplines or qualifications within the health-sector, including: roles of various relief organizations, participation in the UN cluster system, systems for food provision, establishment of sanitation programs, organization of immunization programs and the special needs of children, psychosocial issues of displaced people, security issues, and psychosocial health for relief workers.

Plans for curricula include a consensus-based model and an iterative approach, identifying and defining a list of necessary competencies for humanitarian health workers through reviews of the literature, original surveys of both humanitarian providers and humanitarian beneficiaries, and consultations with member institutions, NGOs, and international partners.

Building upon these established core competencies and curricula, PAATCHH plans to then create accreditation standards for an array of training programs in humanitarian health, in collaboration with USAID, humanitarian NGOs, international partners, and existing credentialing bodies, such as the Accreditation Council for International Healthcare Education. Training programs from within or outside the US that meet and exceed these standards will eventually be able to gain certification from PAATCHH. NGOs, donors, and foreign governments will know that all individuals who have completed an accredited training program possess a set of core competencies for response to humanitarian emergencies.