Nutrition & Health Interventions in Crises Training Course

This course equips participants with the knowledge and practical skills required to design, implement, and manage nutrition and public health interventions in emergency and humanitarian contexts. It focuses on acute malnutrition management, emergency health service delivery, epidemic preparedness, maternal and child health in crises, WASH-health integration, surveillance systems, and outbreak response. Participants will learn how to deliver life-saving nutrition and health services in fragile, conflict-affected, and disaster-prone settings.

Target Groups

• Humanitarian health and nutrition officers
• NGO and UN agency health program staff
• Public health emergency response teams
• Nutritionists and dietitians in humanitarian settings
• Government ministry of health emergency units
• WASH and health integration specialists
• Epidemiologists and disease surveillance officers
• Community health workers and supervisors
• Donor and health program managers

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Understand key principles of emergency nutrition and public health response
• Identify and manage acute malnutrition (SAM and MAM) in crisis settings
• Design and implement emergency health service delivery systems
• Strengthen disease surveillance and outbreak response mechanisms
• Integrate WASH interventions with health and nutrition programs
• Improve maternal, newborn, and child health in emergencies
• Apply vaccination and immunization strategies in crises
• Conduct rapid health and nutrition assessments
• Strengthen coordination within health clusters and partners
• Ensure accountability and quality in emergency health programming

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Course Modules

Module 1: Introduction to Humanitarian Health and Nutrition

• Overview of health and nutrition in emergencies
• Global burden of disease in crisis settings
• Humanitarian health system frameworks
• Role of WHO, UNICEF, and humanitarian actors
• Health priorities in disaster and conflict environments

Module 2: Acute Malnutrition Management

• Classification of acute malnutrition (SAM, MAM)
• Community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM)
• Therapeutic feeding programs (TFP)
• Screening and referral systems
• Monitoring recovery and relapse prevention

Module 3: Emergency Health Service Delivery

• Primary health care in emergencies
• Mobile clinics and outreach services
• Essential medicines and supplies management
• Health facility rehabilitation in crises
• Service continuity during disasters

Module 4: Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH) in Emergencies

• Maternal health risks in crisis settings
• Safe delivery and emergency obstetric care
• Neonatal care interventions
• Child health priorities in emergencies
• Integrated MNCH programming approaches

Module 5: Disease Surveillance and Epidemic Preparedness

• Early warning disease surveillance systems
• Outbreak detection and reporting mechanisms
• Epidemiological data collection in emergencies
• Risk mapping and hotspot identification
• Coordination with public health authorities

Module 6: Outbreak Response and Epidemic Control

• Cholera, measles, malaria, and other epidemic responses
• Case management and isolation protocols
• Vaccination campaigns in emergencies
• Infection prevention and control (IPC)
• Emergency response coordination structures

Module 7: WASH and Health Integration

• Water, sanitation, and hygiene linkages to health
• Preventing waterborne diseases in crises
• Hygiene promotion in displaced populations
• Sanitation systems in emergency camps
• Integrated WASH-health programming

Module 8: Nutrition Assessment and Data Systems

• Nutrition screening methodologies
• SMART surveys and rapid assessments
• Data collection and analysis in emergencies
• Nutrition surveillance systems
• Reporting and decision-making using data

Module 9: Health Coordination and Accountability

• Health cluster coordination mechanisms
• Multi-agency health response planning
• Donor reporting and compliance systems
• Accountability to affected populations (AAP) in health programs
• Quality assurance and standards in health interventions

Module 10: Capstone Project and Case Studies

• Designing an emergency nutrition and health response plan
• Case studies of major outbreaks and responses
• Simulation: cholera outbreak response coordination
• Nutrition program design exercise (CMAM implementation)
• Emerging trends: AI disease prediction models, drone delivery of medical supplies, digital health surveillance dashboards, telemedicine in crises, and blockchain-based vaccine tracking systems