Harvard Humanitarian Initiative Update
And Call for Public Health Experts

Dear Members of the HSPH Community:

Hurricane Katrina passed through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama Monday, August 29, 2005, leaving a severe crisis in its wake. We have all followed closely the events of the past two weeks, witnessing first the preparations for the hurricane, then the news of the physical damage it caused to New Orleans, Gulfport, and other cities and towns along the Gulf Coast, then news of evacuations, rescue operations, attempts to rebuild the levees, and the living conditions in the hard-hit areas as well as shelters and other areas of refuge in the Gulf Coast and beyond. Central among the key issues have been public health matters, including risks arising from the living situation in the Superdome, the Astrodome, and the shelters around the region, and risks associated with the remaining standing water in New Orleans and other locations.

The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) is a new joint academic program involving multiple entities within the Harvard academic and medical community. The Initiative combines expertise in public health, medicine, governance, and scholarship to advance research, practice, and policy in the field of humanitarian assistance to populations affected by war and disaster.

Assessment of the damage and population needs in the three hard-hit Gulf states is ongoing. The slow pace in gathering detailed quantitative information is a sign of the widespread and serious impact of this disaster. Communications are still very intermittent. Road access along the coast as well as for miles inland is severely limited.

Electric power remains out for many people in the region, and it is unlikely that it will be fully restored for months.

Major relief agencies are thinking in terms of a three-month planning horizon, during which there may be hundreds of thousands of people in need of emergency or temporary shelter and support. The Boston-based Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMATs), staffed by many of our colleagues and joined by their counterparts from around the country, have been mobilized. In addition, HHI personnel with expertise in large-scale disasters and humanitarian crises have been working to develop, task, and support the new Public Health Unit of the American Red Cross (ARC).

We are working on the following specific initiatives with the American Red Cross:

• Wide-scale deployment of medical and public health personnel throughout the affected areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama to support ARC operations in all aspects;
• Development of strategic and tactical planning for public health emergency operations with ARC national headquarters;
• Assessment of ongoing medical, public health, and environmental needs at the field level;
• Deployment of emergency mental health personnel in support of ARC shelter operations at targeted shelters in Louisiana and Mississippi ;
• Public health communications support for ARC field operations;
• Development of public health and environmental health protocols for disaster operations;
• Liaison and provision of medical back-up to donated mobile medical clinics;
• Development of field surveillance tools for health screening and triage in ARC shelters;
• Act as public health liaison with local, state, and federal public health agencies; and
• Technical and logistical support for ARC headquarters operations and for field operations startup.

We have full-time physicians and public health staff in Washington, DC who will continue to work closely with ARC centrally and in the field.

To date, twenty physicians and nurses with public health training and expertise have been deployed to support the field efforts of the ARC. These people are conducting public health assessments in shelters in Mississippi and Alabama, with one team focusing on mental health issues.

We will also be deploying public health experts with Oxfam America. Additionally, we are working directly with the state public health authorities in Louisiana to implement the public health strategy for the entire shelter network, and expect to deploy 30 to 40 more field staff in the next few weeks in connection with this work.

HHI will continue to deploy personnel over the coming weeks with the ARC and other organizations. Physicians and nurses are needed with the following attributes:

• Public Health expertise or advanced training (e.g., MPH) required
• Clinical training preferred
• Previous field experience in a disaster or humanitarian situation preferred
• Availability to deploy for a minimum of two weeks required
• Must be capable of working in an extremely austere environment required

If you would like to be considered for deployment, send an email to Katrina@hsph.harvard.edu attaching your resume and including the following information:

• Your name
• Your title (i.e., MD, RN, MPH)
• Your department and position
• Your home address
• Your email address
• Your home, work, and mobile telephone numbers
• Your pager number (if applicable)
• Best way to reach you (e.g., mobile telephone, home telephone, pager)
• Special expertise (e.g., epidemiology, monitoring and evaluation)

Sincerely,

Jennifer Leaning and Michael VanRooyen
Co-directors