Papers by Gerard Finnigan
This paper frames humanitarian innovation as a series of critical challenges for the sector to co... more This paper frames humanitarian innovation as a series of critical challenges for the sector to confront, overcome and advance. The first relates to the meaning of innovation itself and the way in which the sector interprets and applies the action of innovating. The second challenge concerns the changing nature of humanitarian assistance. This paper posits, that current humanitarian policy and practice forged by historical events, is losing efficacy not because of poor design or implementation, but rather, because of the change in nature, environment and context in which humanitarian assistance is required. The third challenge concerns the effect and influence of the donor funding community. The growth and volume in major donor funding is acting both as “push and pull” variants across the sector. The final challenge presented is described as a structural challenge. Unless the industry resolves the practice of “top down” innovation, experimentation and trial and the donor silo effect,...
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, May 1, 2019
Journal of Humanitarian Affairs
When former Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon encouraged the humanitarian secto... more When former Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon encouraged the humanitarian sector to innovate and create a new paradigm to respond to people in crisis, the sector answered with an unbridled number of new enterprises and laboratories to create tools, products and new initiatives. As these emerged, so did the reality of the changing complexity of communities in need of humanitarian assistance. The deterioration of the natural physical environment, along with burgeoning population dynamics and threats to humanitarian workers themselves, has tipped the balance of complexity beyond the capability of the system to respond effectively. The humanitarian sector as a whole must urgently commit to reconciling four critical challenges to reinvent itself and its effectiveness: reconciling the meaning of innovation; developing an overarching strategy that addresses the radically changing global context in which communities require assistance; agreeing on an integrated structure t...
Education for health (Abingdon, England)
Reflection and reflective practice is of increasing importance in medical education curricula. Th... more Reflection and reflective practice is of increasing importance in medical education curricula. The aim of this review is to summarise the literature published around facilitating reflection in a medical course, and to answer the question : W0 hat is the current evidence regarding learning and development moments across the medical curriculum in developing students' reflective practice? A review of the literature was undertaken using defined databases and the search terms 'medical students', 'medical education', 'reflection', 'reflectFNx01' and 'medicine'. The search was limited to peer-reviewed published material in English and between the years 2001 and 2011, and included research, reviews and opinion pieces. Thirty-six relevant articles were found, identifying enhancing factors and barriers to effectively teaching reflective practice within medical curricula, relating to: The breadth of the meaning of reflection; facilitating reflection ...
New South Wales Public Health Bulletin, 1997
Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal
Purpose The rapid deterioration of the earth’s natural ecosystems are increasing the risk of huma... more Purpose The rapid deterioration of the earth’s natural ecosystems are increasing the risk of human morbidity and mortality worldwide. Hydrometeorological hazards are concentrating contaminants from the damaged environment and exposing large vulnerable populations to life threating illnesses and death. This study performed a retrospective health risk assessment on two recent events where such impacts unfolded, namely, the 2015 south east Equatorial Asia smoke haze disaster and the 2016 Melbourne thunderstorm asthma epidemic. The purpose of this paper is to test if the characterisation of health risk warranted earlier and more effective risk reduction activities prior to the disasters occurring. Design/methodology/approach A retrospective health risk characterisation assessment was performed combing United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Risk Health Aspect in Disaster Risk Assessment (2017) framework with a thematic and targeted word literature review to identify the level...
Adopting an “all hazards approach” represents a significant challenge for both the WHO and most l... more Adopting an “all hazards approach” represents a significant challenge for both the WHO and most low and middle income countries. The approach requires a comprehensive risk-analysis framework to identify health hazards of greatest risk and the use of risk-based planning to enable the prioritization and allocation of resources to manage and reduce the risks. While this approach is the most practical and evidence-tested for historical health impact disasters, such as storms, floods, earthquakes and epidemics, it far less compatible for emerging and future public health emergencies, caused by cumulative exposure to a contaminated environment or drug resistant pathogen. Current rates of morbidity and mortality from cumulative exposure events from contaminated environments, like air, water, food and those threats from anti-microbial resistance are hundreds of times greater than those caused by single event natural disasters.
The Humanitarian Leader
The global threat from natural hazard disasters is accelerating, driven by the earth’s deteriorat... more The global threat from natural hazard disasters is accelerating, driven by the earth’s deteriorating natural ecosystems, damaged physical environment, rapid urbanisation and population growth. Internationally agreed targets within the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) aim to halt the escalating risk and reduce disaster-related deaths and global impact. Achieving SFDRR targets requires a robust estimation of global disaster-mortality and targeted health interventions so that people at risk are protected and their deaths are prevented. This study examined whether the information published in medical and scientific literature on cause-specific mortality was reflected in global data collection and reporting.
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, May 1, 2019
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, May 1, 2019
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Papers by Gerard Finnigan