E-learning material on NCDs in Humanitarian Settings – a review

By Maria Cederskjold Pedersen & Anna Katrine Lynenskjold

In November 2018, the Danish Red Cross launched an E-learning course on Non-Communicable Diseases in Humanitarian Settings in partnership with the University of Copenhagen. As the material is especially relevant for scholars in global health, development studies or humanitarian workers, who wish to know more about how to address NCDs in their work, we, two student assistants in the International Department, were asked to test the material and share our experiences.

The course is taught primarily by Siri Tellier, a Public Health demographer who as former Head of DRC International Department is no stranger to the Red Cross Movement, and who is now responsible for the course on Health in Emergencies and Refugee Health at the University of Copenhagen.

The E-learning course consists of 3 modules, with lectures and readings followed by additional quizzes to ensure that participants have understood the received information. The 3 modules respectively 1) present the importance of addressing NCDs in humanitarian settings, 2) explore what is already being done in the field, and 3) put forward challenges and opportunities. Once all three modules are completed, you will get a diploma to document the completion of the course.

What to expect?

As young professionals on the verge of entering the humanitarian field, we found it particularly eye-opening to learn more about the academically recognized problems with NCDs in humanitarian settings, which only until recently have received limited attention in the world of humanitarian practitioners. The course emphasized why future humanitarian workers need to address this issue and incorporate efforts to reduce implications into humanitarian programs.

The e-learning material brings together a variety of humanitarian actors in the effort to shed light on the challenge including academia and real-life accounts from practitioners in organizations such as Médecins Sans Frontières, Red Cross Movement Partners, International Rescue Committee and Geneva University Hospital. This creates a cross-organizational and sectoral learning experience, showing dilemmas met by health care professionals and the latest scientific findings and gives attention to how the lack of political and financial attention is limiting the potentials of health care coverage across agencies. By covering point of views of academia, practitioners and affected populations, the learning material gave insight into how reality is often messier than anticipated, more complex and filled with trade-offs and ethical questions.

One of the most striking facts we learned from the course was how urbanization has caused a change in affected populations in many humanitarian settings challenging humanitarian interventions by its increased prevalence of NCDs, compared to earlier where infectious diseases and trauma injuries were the main health challenges in humanitarian settings.

Further the fact that NCDs are the leading cause of death in almost every region of the world really changed our perception of the care needs and challenges in humanitarian operations. The often-met scarcity of medicine in humanitarian situations cause a break in continuity of care and creates limitations of access to medicine for patients already diagnosed pre-conflict, leaving their illness untreated in the risk of worsening, not to mention the risk of causing excess mortality.

Lastly, we really enjoyed the included run-through of the four main NCDs (diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and chronic lung diseases) and their risk factors given by Medical Doctor Alessandro Demaio, who in an easily comprehendible manner manages to provide the learners with the main facts needed to understand the medical needs of patients living with NCDs. Additionally, he manages to address the most common myths about NCDs, giving the learners a factual starting point for the learning experience.

All in all, the course increased our knowledge on NCDs in humanitarian settings, gave insight into the needs and challenges met when providing care to chronically ill patients in situations of conflict and crises, and raised our interest to why much further political and financial attention is required to address these unmet needs.

Background

The E-learning material was launched at an after-work meeting shortly after the Third UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs, where Director of International Department Birgitte Bischoff in a panel together with Flemming Konradsen, Professor and Head of Section at Global Health Section UCPH and Mia Bülow-Olsen, Global Access to Care Lead at Novo Nordisk, anchored a discussion of future perspectives, challenges and opportunities when engaging in cross sector partnerships. Among the participants were representatives from Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, World Diabetes Foundation, Novo Nordisk, Médecins Sans Frontières, Danish Ministry of Health, and The Novo Nordisk Foundation.

The course material can be accessed at Coursera and the IFRC learning platform free of charge here: https://ifrc-stg.csod.com/LMS/LoDetails/DetailsLo.aspx?loid=62b3f139-cba2-4302-9e3f-4cac0fd6ca14  and will also be made part of the Network on Humanitarian Action (NOHA) Joint Master’s Program in International Humanitarian Action.   

The e-learning material is also accessible for participants with hearing impairments, since all the videos are accompanied with a written transcript as well as subtitles.

Direct link to the course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/non-communicable-diseases-in-humanitarian-settings