WHO/RHR/13.03
WHO’s Work on Sexual and Reproductive Health for
Emergency Risk Management and Humanitarian Response As the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system, WHO is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends. In the context of emergency risk management, WHO, through Country Offices supported by Regional Offices and HQ, works with governments, national partners, NGOs and other multilateral agencies to assess and develop national capacities, address priority health needs in humanitarian response, and strengthen health systems in transition, recovery and reconstruction. WHO also leads the Global Health Cluster and is the focal point for health sector inputs to the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. The Department of Emergency Risk Management and Humanitarian Response (ERM) in HQ draws upon the technical expertise of the Departments of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Reproductive Health and Research to set and promote standards, norms and guidance for sexual and reproductive/maternal, newborn and child health for emergencies. Sexual and reproductive health is in the work plan for WHO Strategic Objective 5 and is addressed in health sector/ cluster humanitarian strategies. WHO recently co-sponsored, with Gynuity Health Projects and the IFRC, a workshop on SRH innovations and technologies for humanitarian settings In partnership with several humanitarian and development agencies WHO recently published a policy brief, entitled Integrating sexual and reproductive health into health emergency and disaster risk management and participated in the International Day for Disaster Reduction in October 2012, on Women and Girls: Invisible Force of Resilience. For more information: Global Health Cluster WHO/ Emergency Risk Managment and Humanitarian Response WHO/ Maternal, Newborn, Child & Adolescent Health WHO/ Reproductive Health & Research © World Health Organization 2013 All rights reserved. Publications of the World Health Organization are available on the WHO web site (www.who.int) or can be purchased from WHO Press, World Health Organization, 20 Avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland (tel.: +41 22 791 3264; fax: +41 22 791 4857; e-mail: bookorders@ who.int). Requests for permission to reproduce or translate WHO publications –whether for sale or for non-commercial distribution– should be addressed to WHO Press through the WHO web site (www.who.int/about/licensing/copyright_form/en/index.html). All reasonable precautions have been taken by the World Health Organization to verify the information contained in this publication. However, the published material is being distributed without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. The responsibility for the interpretation and use of the material lies with the reader. In no event shall the World Health Organization be liable for damages arising from its use.
WHO is an active member of UN Action (UN Action against sexual violence in conflict) WHO held a meeting of experts and produced 3 brief publications on mental health and psychosocial support for conflict-related sexual violence: – Mental health and psychosocial support for conflictrelated violence: principles and interventions – Do’s and don’ts in community-based psychosocial support for sexual violence survivors in conflictaffected settings – Mental health and psychosocial support for conflictrelated violence: 10 myths WHO developed, in collaboration with CDC, two survey tools for measuring sexual violence in humanitarian settings WHO developed and published, in collaboration with the Sexual Violence Research Initiative, a research agenda for sexual violence in humanitarian, conflict and post-conflict settings With support from UN Action and in collaboration with UNODOC, WHO is supporting an initiative on building national system capacity for medico-legal evidence for sexual violence in conflict-affected settings Recent guidelines published by WHO that are particularly pertinent for humanitarian settings include: Optimizing health worker roles to improve access to key maternal and newborn health interventions through task shifting; WHO recommendations for the prevention and treatment of postpartum haemorrhage; WHO recommendations for the prevention and treatment of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia; and Safe abortion: technical and policy guidance for health systems http://www.who.int/hac/global_health_cluster/en/ http://www.who.int/hac/en/ http://www.who.int/hac/techguidance/preparedness/en/ http://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent/en/ http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/en/