When Professor Kathryn Chu met Gift of the Givers founder, Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, six months ago, she was so inspired by this non-governmental organisation’s (NGO) work that she asked them to collaborate in a conference on humanitarian disasters.
Chu approached Sooliman with the idea of a conference on humanitarian crises when he gave a talk at SU last year. “He thought it was a good idea and so the concept was born.”
Fast forward, and the Preparedness for Humanitarian Disasters Conference, co-hosted by Stellenbosch University (SU) and Gift of the Givers, was held at the Cape Town International Conference Centre (CTICC) on 27 and 28 May and attended by more than 400 people from a range of disciplines.
The success of this unique conference and the demand for similar events inspired Chu, the Director of SU’s Centre for Global Surgery, to introduce an online short course in humanitarian surgery aimed at surgeons around the world who wish to volunteer with humanitarian organisations. According to Chu, the short course will be the first of its kind globally, and will be up and running in about 12 months.
The conference, which featured a keynote address by Sooliman, gave attendees insight into what happens behind the scenes during humanitarian disasters based on the first-hand experiences of Gift of the Givers volunteers.
The organisation has responded to natural disasters, including earthquakes, cyclones and tsunamis, and man-made disasters, such as wars, in more than 45 countries since it was founded more than 30 years ago. Team members, including one who flew out from Australia for the conference, related experiences and lessons from real missions to teach the logistical, medical and ethical principles of working in disaster settings.
Subjects covered included pre-mission preparation, search and rescue, needs analysis, emergency relief and the importance of teamwork. Presenters also spoke about logistics, equipment and procurement during emergencies, and the arrangement of transport.
A big part of the conference was devoted to how to conduct surgery and undertake wound care during disasters and how to organise emergency nutrition. A key focus point was the need to adapt during crisis situations, the importance of rapid response, and what to do when there is no intensive care unit (ICU).
In an interview, Chu describes the conference as ‘one of a kind’. “I don’t think there’s ever been a conference where the participants got to walk hand-in-hand with a humanitarian response organisation to find out what happens in every aspect of a disaster operation.
“Most people are not privy to the details of how the organisation responds, what happens in the first few hours in terms of planning and preparation, where they get equipment, how they negotiate in the political context, what the ethics behind the operation are, and who they take.”
Chu says the mission of the Centre for Global Surgery is to improve surgical access worldwide. “That includes humanitarian disasters, during which there is a big need for surgical care. Often the existing healthcare systems, including surgical care, are destroyed or never really existed at all, and certainly couldn’t cope with the surgical needs during disasters.
“We’ve always been interested in surgical care during disasters. We already train surgeons from all over the world, who want to become humanitarian surgeons, at Tygerberg Hospital. They come to South Africa because care in the public sector often takes place in a resource-limited setting, which is very similar to what you would find in a disaster. A lot of these surgeons come from high-income countries and are not used to working without all the bells and whistles, high-tech diagnostics, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanners, and so forth.”
The conference organisers have had good feedback from the participants, who included medical personnel, students, young doctors who might be interested in volunteering on humanitarian missions, and members of the public.
“This was the first time that Gift of the Givers volunteers had had the opportunity to tell their story, and the first time that all the members of the core medical team were together in one venue.
“It was cathartic to talk about their work. Many had never shared their personal stories of what it was like to be a medic on one of these trips and help people in need. It was a way for them to talk about their lived experiences, some of which were traumatic. Arising from the conference, the University is planning to collaborate on writing a book that features their stories.”
Chu says that, with the scope of the Gift of the Givers’ response continually growing, she hopes that the Centre for Global Surgery can assist the NGO. “They do so much more than medical responses, including hostage negotiations and food distribution. As a research centre, we could help them evaluate their outcomes to improve service delivery, and we are open to working with them in the future if they request our assistance.”
Elaborating on the upcoming short course in humanitarian surgery, Chu says that it will equip surgeons to work with any organisation involved in disaster relief around the world. “I am excited about this course as I believe there’s a need to have more people on the roster who can respond in these settings. When the disaster strikes, you only have a few hours or days to recruit people. Even if you were trained as one kind of specialist, you must be able to do many types of medical and non-medical things during a disaster, and these are the things volunteers will be properly trained for.”
- Caption: Organisers of the Preparedness for Humanitarian Disasters Conference at the CTICC
