Assessment of the non-communicable diseases kit for humanitarian emergencies in Yemen and Libya.

Emergency health kits are a vital way of providing essential medicines and supplies to health clinics during humanitarian crises. The WHO non-communicable diseases (NDCs) kit was developed 5 years ago, recognising the increasing challenge of providing continuity of care and secondary prevention of NCDs and exacerbations, in such settings. Monitoring and evaluation of emergency health kits is an important process to ensure the contents are fit for purpose and to assess usability and utility. However, there are also challenges and limitations in collecting the relevant data to do so.This Practice paper provides a summary of the key methodologies, findings and limitations of NCD kit assessments conducted in Libya and Yemen. Methodologies included a combination of semistructured interviews, surveys with healthcare workers, NCD knowledge tests and quantifying the remaining contents.The kit was able to support the vital delivery of NCD patient care in some complex humanitarian settings and was appreciated by health facilities. However, there were also some challenges affecting kit use. Some kit contents were found to be in greater or lesser quantities than required, and medicine brands and country of origin affected acceptability. Supply chains were affected by the humanitarian situations, with some kits being held up for months prior to arrival. Furthermore, healthcare staff had received limited NCD training and were unable to dispense certain medicines, such as psychotropics, at the primary care level. Further granularity of kit modules, predeployment facility assessments, increased NCD training opportunities and a monitoring system could improve the utility of the kits.

The development of the noncommunicable diseases emergency health kit.

The noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) emergency health kit was developed in response to the growing prevalence of NCDs in low and middle-income countries. Under conditions of conflict or following natural disasters, regular treatment of this category of diseases is often disrupted and rarely prioritized. This leads to greater morbidity and mortality both in the short and long term. The Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) has both a high incidence of NCDs and currently is the site of several major conflicts and hosts most of the world's refugees. Therefore, the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean initiated the development of the NCD emergency health kit to provide a structured set of medications, equipment and renewables to supply the needs of a population of 10 000 people over a period of 3 months following disruption of normal medical services. This report discusses the rationale and anticipated use of the NCD emergency health kit followed by the selection criteria, structure, content and quantification process of the kit. Finally, the next steps are examined, including the procurement, logistics and monitoring and evaluation process of the kit.