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UNFPA takes part in humanitarian workshops

COPENHAGEN – A one-day university seminar held in Copenhagen recently examined the role of HIV/AIDS in conflicts and emergency situations.

The seminar belonged to a larger course on humanitarian interventions in emergencies, as part of the university’s Master of International Health program.

“The humanitarian community recognizes a number of priority interventions to prevent HIV transmission in emergencies,” said Wilma Doedens, Technical Adviser on Reproductive Health in Emergencies, based in UNFPA’s Geneva office. “These include making free condoms available to people who want to use them, making sure that all medical staff have enough clean needles and syringes to give safe injections, and that hospitals have HIV tests to screen blood that is donated to critically ill patients.”

UNFPA works to ensure reproductive health is integrated into the humanitarian response in all crises. Training future public health professionals and humanitarian staff is one way of doing this. UNFPA’s technical specialists are asked to train at well-known universities on a regular basis. For example, Dr Doedens trains the MPH students at the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam on this topic each year.

The seminar was organized jointly by Enreca, the Danish Research Network for International Health; Copenhagen School of Global Health; AIDSnet; Red Barnet, and the Danish Institute for Human Rights.

Joining Dr Doedens during the seminar was Siri Tellier, former director of the UNFPA Geneva office until her retirement in February.