Pre-deployment education and training for refugee emergencies: Health and safety aspects

Abstract

Pre-deployment education, briefing and training for all workers posted to refugee programmes include health and safety themes. Underlying tenets of such preparation include the axiom that one must not become a preventable medical burden on the stressed population one is going to support; that much of health and safety pre-deployment education has to be self-directed; and that all refugee workers irrespective of rank or status face the same potential health and safety risks in-country. Disease and injury rates manifest one peak in the first days following deployment to a refugee programme, this 'vulnerable window of risk' occurring before a new worker becomes streetwise in the new posting. Current health and safety briefings must include specific counsel and instruction about incountry health intelligence, the risk of antipersonnel landmines, HIV infection, malaria, injury and trauma prevention, first aid skills and counsel about self-recognition of the early signs of the post-traumatic stress syndrome.