Rapid risk assessment for communicable diseases in humanitarian emergencies: validation of a rapid risk assessment tool for communicable disease risk in humanitarian emergencies

Background: Communicable diseases pose a significant risk in humanitarian emergencies. This paper reports on the development and validation of a rapid risk assessment tool for communicable diseases in humanitarian emergencies. Methods: We developed a tool assessing the 20 most critical risk factors...

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Main Authors: Charlotte Christiane Hammer, Julii Brainard, Paul R Hunter
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of New South Wales 2019-05-01
Series:Global Biosecurity
Subjects:
Online Access:https://jglobalbiosecurity.com/articles/24
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author Charlotte Christiane Hammer
Julii Brainard
Paul R Hunter
author_facet Charlotte Christiane Hammer
Julii Brainard
Paul R Hunter
author_sort Charlotte Christiane Hammer
collection DOAJ
description Background: Communicable diseases pose a significant risk in humanitarian emergencies. This paper reports on the development and validation of a rapid risk assessment tool for communicable diseases in humanitarian emergencies. Methods: We developed a tool assessing the 20 most critical risk factors for disease outbreaks in humanitarian emergencies. This paper reports on the development and validation of the tool consisting of face and content validation with key informant interviews (n=25) and a reliability validation (inter-rater reliability test) with groups of volunteer aid workers (n=4 groups). Findings: Face and content validation confirmed the importance of rapid risk assessment methods and the suitability and usefulness of the developed tool. Participants without prior health protection experience were able fill in the tool with an accuracy of 81·25% (SD 4.08) across both scenarios (82·35% and 80·15% for scenarios 1 and 2 respectively). Errors primarily occurred when judging the severity of risk factors that could not be captured quantitatively. Revisions of the tool have been made based on the validation process. Conclusion: The tool was successfully validated for the use in different humanitarian emergency settings and is suitable for users with and without experience in health protection.
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spelling doaj.art-9ecd82858693477da1d462190557a6002022-12-21T20:40:14ZengUniversity of New South WalesGlobal Biosecurity2652-00362019-05-011210.31646/gbio.2423Rapid risk assessment for communicable diseases in humanitarian emergencies: validation of a rapid risk assessment tool for communicable disease risk in humanitarian emergenciesCharlotte Christiane Hammer0Julii Brainard1Paul R Hunter2University of East AngliaUniversity of East AngliaUniversity of East AngliaBackground: Communicable diseases pose a significant risk in humanitarian emergencies. This paper reports on the development and validation of a rapid risk assessment tool for communicable diseases in humanitarian emergencies. Methods: We developed a tool assessing the 20 most critical risk factors for disease outbreaks in humanitarian emergencies. This paper reports on the development and validation of the tool consisting of face and content validation with key informant interviews (n=25) and a reliability validation (inter-rater reliability test) with groups of volunteer aid workers (n=4 groups). Findings: Face and content validation confirmed the importance of rapid risk assessment methods and the suitability and usefulness of the developed tool. Participants without prior health protection experience were able fill in the tool with an accuracy of 81·25% (SD 4.08) across both scenarios (82·35% and 80·15% for scenarios 1 and 2 respectively). Errors primarily occurred when judging the severity of risk factors that could not be captured quantitatively. Revisions of the tool have been made based on the validation process. Conclusion: The tool was successfully validated for the use in different humanitarian emergency settings and is suitable for users with and without experience in health protection.https://jglobalbiosecurity.com/articles/24communicable diseases, disasters, epidemiology, health protection, humanitarian emergencies, risk assessment
spellingShingle Charlotte Christiane Hammer
Julii Brainard
Paul R Hunter
Rapid risk assessment for communicable diseases in humanitarian emergencies: validation of a rapid risk assessment tool for communicable disease risk in humanitarian emergencies
Global Biosecurity
communicable diseases, disasters, epidemiology, health protection, humanitarian emergencies, risk assessment
title Rapid risk assessment for communicable diseases in humanitarian emergencies: validation of a rapid risk assessment tool for communicable disease risk in humanitarian emergencies
title_full Rapid risk assessment for communicable diseases in humanitarian emergencies: validation of a rapid risk assessment tool for communicable disease risk in humanitarian emergencies
title_fullStr Rapid risk assessment for communicable diseases in humanitarian emergencies: validation of a rapid risk assessment tool for communicable disease risk in humanitarian emergencies
title_full_unstemmed Rapid risk assessment for communicable diseases in humanitarian emergencies: validation of a rapid risk assessment tool for communicable disease risk in humanitarian emergencies
title_short Rapid risk assessment for communicable diseases in humanitarian emergencies: validation of a rapid risk assessment tool for communicable disease risk in humanitarian emergencies
title_sort rapid risk assessment for communicable diseases in humanitarian emergencies validation of a rapid risk assessment tool for communicable disease risk in humanitarian emergencies
topic communicable diseases, disasters, epidemiology, health protection, humanitarian emergencies, risk assessment
url https://jglobalbiosecurity.com/articles/24
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