Doctors of the World (DOW) and partners are calling for the urgent scaling up of community-based health workforces because of their potential to mitigate the impact of emergencies. When an emergency strikes, these workers are already in position in their communities and therefore well-placed to provide emergency health services in the critical first few hours and days before external help arrives.

We are working with partners to increase the resilience of communities to protect themselves against the impact of emergencies. To highlight this collaboration, a Joint Statement on 'Scaling up the community-based health workforce for emergencies' has been issued.

The statement was released at a recent workshop hosted in Geneva on 20th October 2011.  Jonathan Abrahams, responsible for disaster risk management at World Health Organisation (WHO), said the workshop had enabled the group to determine the best way to strengthen community-based health initiatives. “What is really important is that multiple agencies are building on the experience, and that more can be done by working together with a common purpose. We have identified priorities for the development of practical guidelines and other actions for the community based workforce, on which our organisations can collaborate,” he said.

DOW UK's Chris Bonfiglioli said preparation is key to avert crisises:  "Building capacity at the community level and supporting the grass roots workforce is key to responding to disasters as quickly as possible. There are many specific measures that can be taken by local, national and international actors to strengthen the capacity of the local health systems. These can help manage the risks of emergencies enabling communities and build resilience at local levels for when disasters strike."

This Joint Statement was developed by the Global Health Workforce Alliance together with the WHO, IFRC, UNHCR, UNICEF and is supported by Doctors of the World and the following organisations: the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC), CARE, Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA), International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), International Medical Corps (IMC), International Organization for Migration (IOM), International Rescue Committee (IRC), Merlin, Save the Children, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) and World Health Organization (WHO).