March 30, 2018—The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) / World Health Organization (WHO) has named the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health a Collaborating Center for Research and Policy Guidance in Humanitarian Health Assistance. Since its founding in 1998, the Center has devoted its resources to saving lives and reducing human suffering and other consequences of humanitarian emergencies and disasters. It is headquartered in the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The Center becomes the first PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center in North America to focus on humanitarian health assistance research and policy. It joins a network of over 700 centers in more than 80 countries that work with PAHO/WHO on areas such as communicable diseases, nutrition, mental health, chronic diseases and health technologies.
“This collaboration will allow the Center for Humanitarian Health to have a strong link with PAHO/WHO and stay engaged with operational partners in humanitarian emergencies,” says Dr. Paul Spiegel, director of the Center and a professor of the practice in International Health at the Bloomberg School. “Such an engagement will allow us to ensure our teaching and research remains relevant to the field.”
PAHO/WHO established the collaborating center framework, in part, to work with top institutions worldwide to support its global health efforts, and to ensure its scientific validity. Collaborating institutions benefit from enhanced visibility and recognition by national authorities, calling public attention to the health issues on which they work.
The Center will work with WHO on numerous issues including cash-based interventions, mental health, and training and education programs. It will also expand its successful Health Emergencies in Large Populations (H.E.L.P) Course for humanitarian worker and develop online training resources for those unable to attend in person.
About the Center for Humanitarian Health
The Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health is a unique and collaborative Johns Hopkins academic program conducted jointly by the Bloomberg School of Public Health, the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing. It is hosted at and administered by the Department of International Health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, and draws upon a variety of disciplines, including epidemiology, demography, emergency and disaster medicine, health systems management, nutrition/food security, environmental engineering, mental health, political science and human rights. The Center collaborates with a variety of organizations including national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), multilateral and UN organizations, and Governmental agencies, as well as other research institutions on field-based research and humanitarian projects.
