THEMATIC AREA
Chronic diseases and continuity of care in emergencies
This section covers public health problems in humanitarian settings that have not been adequately prioritised to date: non-communicable or chronic diseases, the lack of continuity of care needed to keep them under control and prevent acute deterioration, and the need for palliative care to relieve the suffering of those who suffer most.
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The challenge of continuity of care in chronic health problems
The humanitarian system was built to respond to acute problems: wounds that need treating today, severe malnutrition, infectious diseases and so on. Yet this model is no longer enough, because it leaves aside enormous health problems whose management calls for a longitudinal approach and a long-term view: preventing, diagnosing and controlling chronic diseases, and relieving the suffering of those who cannot be cured and are nearing the end of their lives.
- Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) cause 75% of deaths worldwide, yet we have very little reliable data on their prevalence in humanitarian settings. The information available is scarce and skewed towards the Middle East.
- What is amply documented is the breakdown of continuity of care, which these conditions need if they are to stay under control and which, once lost, turns a chronic illness into a life-threatening emergency.
- Although some risk factors are common to all of them, each NCD poses its own challenges: the cold chain insulin requires, the absence of symptoms in hypertension, the reliance on equipment for dialysis, the shortage of diagnostic capacity to detect cancer before it reaches advanced stages, and so on.
- The progress made in global health policy, humanitarian standards and technical guidance has yet to translate into better coverage of NCD care in humanitarian crises.
17-minute read
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- Palliative care helps prevent and relieve the physical, psychological, social and spiritual suffering of people with life-threatening health problems, and that of their families.
- Although palliative care should form part of essential health services and universal health coverage, it has traditionally received very little attention in humanitarian crises, owing to scarce resources and the prioritisation of interventions aimed at reducing mortality.
- Integrating palliative care into emergency response is an essential part of the humanitarian imperative and sits firmly within the humanitarian principles.
12-minute read
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