Mental and social health in disasters: the Sphere standards and post‐tsunami psychosocial interventions in Asia

Abstract

The primary objective of this paper is to examine and inform the mental health and psychosocial support standards of the 2011 edition of the Sphere Project's Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response. This is done through a qualitative analysis of internal evaluation documents, reflecting four long-term humanitarian psychosocial programmes in different countries in post-tsunami Asia. The analysis yielded three overall conclusions. First, the Sphere standards on mental health and psychosocial support generally are highly relevant to long-term psychosocial interventions after disasters such as the Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004, and their application in such settings may improve the quality of the response. Second, some of the standards in the current Sphere handbook may lack sufficient guidance to ensure the quality of humanitarian response required. Third, the long-term intervention approach poses specific challenges to programming, a problem that could be addressed by including additional guidance in the publication.

Understanding the Operational Concept of a Flood-Resilient Urban Community in Jakarta, Indonesia, from the Perspectives of Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change Adaptation and Development Agencies

“…From these interviews, we can argue that dependency mentality is not merely a cultural factor, as described by previous authors this could be also a result of uncoordinated disaster relief operations [128]. Unplanned excessive relief aid can harm the community and create dependency among the community members that will hinder the overall recovery process [129].…”

What are the barriers to, and facilitators of, implementing and receiving MHPSS programmes delivered to populations affected by humanitarian emergencies? A qualitative evidence synthesis

“…However, the recruitment and retention of practitioners sufficiently skilled to deliver MHPSS programmes continues to be an ongoing challenge, especially in resource-limited settings where there may be a lack of incentives to work in the mental health sector (Eisenbruch et al 2004; Budosan & Aziz, 2009; Budosan & Bruno, 2011). These findings underscore the need to explore the potential of different training approaches such as the ‘apprenticeship model’ and ‘training of trainers’ to ascertain if they can support organisations to develop and retain practitioners at the level of skill and numbers required to ensure programme fidelity and reach (Murray et al 2011; Quosh, 2013; Budosan et al 2014; Henderson et al 2016).…”

Restoration of clean water supply and toilet hygiene reduces infectious diseases in post-disaster evacuation shelters: A multicenter observational study

“…Meanwhile, the population density in each shelter did not significantly correlate with the prevalence of common diseases in each shelter. In the cross-sectional analysis at the follow-up period (i.e., days [20][21][22][23][24][25], the electricity and heating supply levels were significantly correlated with the concurrent prevalence of common symptoms (second half of Table 3), but the significant effect of these resources disappeared in subsequent longitudinal analysis that evaluated the correlation between the changes in the studied variables. Collectively, the levels of clean water supply and toilet hygiene were implied to collaboratively decrease the environmental health risks in the shelters both cross-sectionally and longitudinally.…”

“…Based on accumulated experience and knowledge, several guidelines have been developed in the humanitarian sector, such as the Sphere Project, Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action (ALNAP), and Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP), to standardize humanitarian aid activities in response to natural and manmade disasters [ 1 , 18 , 19 ]. However, there are indications that the present standards in the key lifesaving humanitarian aid sector, including water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion, and food security, need further investigation and evidence-based verification for the association between humanitarian intervention and health outcome [ 20 , 21 ]. Moreover, the short-to medium-term impact of resource supply levels and infrastructural damage of post-disaster evacuation shelters on the physical health of the evacuees—such as the prevalence of common physical symptoms—has yet to be thoroughly studied.…”