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This study was supported by a grant to the National Academy of Sciences and the Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the organizations or agencies that provided support for this project.
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Suggested citation: National Research Council. (2006). Child Health in Complex Emergencies. William J. Moss, Meenakshi Ramakrishnan, Dory Storms, Anne Henderson Siegle, William M. Weiss, and Lulu Muhe. Roundtable on the Demography of Forced Migration, Committee on Population, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education and Program on Forced Migration and Health at the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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ROUNDTABLE ON THE DEMOGRAPHY OF FORCED MIGRATION 2004-2005
CHARLES B. KEELY (Chair),
Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
LINDA BARTLETT,
Division of Reproductive Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta
RICHARD BLACK,
Center for Development and Environment, University of Sussex
STEPHEN CASTLES,
Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford
WILLIAM GARVELINK,
Bureau of Humanitarian Response, U.S. Agency for International Development, Washington, DC
ANDRE GRIEKSPOOR,
Emergency and Humanitarian Action Department, World Health Organization, Geneva
JOHN HAMMOCK,
Feinstein International Famine Center, Tufts University
BELA HOVY,
Program Coordination Section, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Geneva
JENNIFER LEANING,
School of Public Health, Harvard University
NANCY LINDBORG,
Mercy Corps, Washington, DC
CAROLYN MAKINSON,
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, New York
SUSAN F. MARTIN,
Institute for the Study of International Migration, Georgetown University
W. COURTLAND ROBINSON,
Center for Refugee and Disaster Studies, Johns Hopkins University
SHARON STANTON RUSSELL,
Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
WILLIAM SELTZER,
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Fordham University
PAUL SPIEGEL, Global Coordinator on HIV/AIDS,
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Geneva
RONALD WALDMAN,
Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
ANTHONY ZWI,
School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales
BARNEY COHEN, Director,
Committee on Population
ANA MARIA-IGNAT, Senior Program Assistant*
ANTHONY MANN, Senior Program Assistant**
COMMITTEE ON POPULATION 2004-2005
KENNETH W. WACHTER (Chair),
Department of Demography, University of California, Berkeley
ELLEN BRENNAN-GALVIN,
School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University
ANNE C. CASE,
Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
JOHN N. HOBCRAFT,
Population Investigation Committee, London School of Economics
CHARLES B. KEELY,
Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
DAVID I. KERTZER,
Department of Anthropology, Brown University
BARTHELEMY KUATE-DEFO,
Department of Demography, University of Montreal
CYNTHIA LLOYD,
Population Council, New York
DOUGLAS S. MASSEY,
Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania
THOMAS W. MERRICK,
Population and Reproductive Health, World Bank
RUBEN G. RUMBAUT,
Center for Research on Immigration, Population, and Public Policy, Department of Sociology, University of California, Irvine
JAMES W. VAUPEL,
Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
ROBERT J. WILLIS,
Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
BARNEY COHEN, Director
Preface
In response to the need for more research on displaced persons, the Committee on Population developed the Roundtable on the Demography of Forced Migration in 1999. This activity, which is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, provides a forum in which a diverse group of experts can discuss the state of knowledge about demographic structures and processes among people who are displaced by war and political violence, famine, natural disasters, or government projects or programs that destroy their homes and communities. The roundtable includes representatives from operational agencies, with long-standing field and administrative experience. It includes researchers and scientists with both applied and scholarly expertise in medicine, demography, and epidemiology. The group also includes representatives from government, international organizations, donors, universities, and nongovernmental organizations.
The roundtable is organized to be as inclusive as possible of relevant expertise and to provide occasions for substantive sharing to increase knowledge for all participants, with a view toward developing cumulative facts to inform policy and programs in complex humanitarian emergencies. To this aim, the roundtable has held annual workshops on a variety of topics, including mortality patterns in complex emergencies, demographic assessment techniques in emergency settings, and research ethics among conflict-affected and displaced populations.
Another role for the roundtable is to serve as a promoter of the best research in the field. The field is rich in practitioners but is lacking a coher-
ent body of research. Therefore, the roundtable and the Program on Forced Migration and Health at the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University have established a monograph series to promote research on various aspects of the demography of forced migration. These occasional monographs are individually authored documents presented to the roundtable and any recommendations or conclusions are solely attributable to the authors. It is hoped these monographs will result in the formulation of newer and more scientifically sound public health practices and policies and will identify areas in which new research is needed to guide the development of forced migration policy.
This monograph has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making the published monograph as accurate and as sound as possible. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential.
Ronald J. Waldman of Columbia University served as review coordinator for this report. We wish to thank the following individuals for their participation in the review of this report: Christopher Schwabe, health and public finance economist at Medical Care Development International; and Steven Hansch of the Institute for the Study of International Migration, Georgetown University.
Although the individuals listed above provided constructive comments and suggestions, it must be emphasized that responsibility for this monograph rests entirely with the authors.
At the request of the Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Center for International Emergency, Disaster and Refugee Studies (renamed the Center for Refugee and Disaster Response) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health convened a multidisciplinary team to review child health in complex emergencies. The purpose was to conduct a situational analysis of child health activities in preparation for an interagency consultation meeting sponsored by WHO and UNICEF. The consultation meeting was held October 21-22, 2003, in Geneva, Switzerland. Participants reviewed the findings of the report, made recommendations, and identified research needs. This monograph builds on that report and incorporates results from the interagency meeting.
This series of monographs is being made possible by a special collabo-
ration between the Roundtable on the Demography of Forced Migration of the National Academies and the Program on Forced Migration and Health at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. We thank the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for its continued support of the work of the roundtable and the program at Columbia. A special thanks is due Carolyn Makinson of the Mellon Foundation for her enthusiasm and significant expertise in the field of forced migration, which she has shared with the roundtable, and for her help in facilitating partnerships such as this.
Most of all, we are grateful to the authors of this monograph. We hope that this publication contributes to both better policy and better practice in the field.
Charles B. Keely, Chair
Roundtable on the Demography of Forced Migration
Ronald J. Waldman, Member
Roundtable on the Demography of Forced Migration
Director, Program on Forced Migration and Health at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University