The Care of Children in Complex Humanitarian Emergencies and Disasters

In the complex humanitarian emergencies (CHE) setting, population health vulnerabilities are exacerbated by disruption of preventive medical services (particularly vaccination programmes), acute medical care, sanitation, food supply, and shelter. Children under the age of five are consistently found to experience higher mortality rates than any other age group, and for that reason, surveillance programmes should specifically tract under-five mortality (U5M) in addition to overall mortality and disease rates. Except in the immediate post-disaster setting of events such as earthquakes or events with sustained violence, trauma-related mortality and morbidity is overshadowed by that caused by infectious diseases. While the specific ratios of one disease over another may vary based on the unique characteristics of an affected population and the nature of the CHE/disaster itself, historically, four conditions consistently emerge as the most common killers of young children—diarrhoea, lower respiratory tract infections, malaria, and measles. Malnutrition serves as a major causal risk factor for mortality.