In recent years there has been considerable debate over how best to formulate reliable estimates of confl ict mortality rates. However, in formulating humanitarian policy to respond to violent confl icts it is important to go beyond crude mortality rates to look at the causes and timings of deaths. This Policy Briefi ng presents the results of a MICROCON study on Darfur which disaggregates caus...

This article proposes a multi-agent simulation model to examine how different operational environments and incentive mechanisms affect the collective performance of complex humanitarian response systems. Using the UN Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) system as an example, a stylized model of one service provider, two member organizations and multiple humanitarian crises is developed to illust...

This is the second in a series of articles on conducting research during complex humanitarian emergencies. The first is at PLoS Med 5(4): e89. doi:10.1371/journal. pmed.0050089 T he effects of crises (man-made or natural disasters) on physical health are ultimately quantifiable as a rise in mortality. Precise and unbiased estimates of mortality rates (deaths per person-time) or excess death tol...

The importance of specialist intervention in the form of humanitarian aid from governments, NGOs and other aid agencies during a humanitarian emergency cannot be over-emphasised. Humanitarian aid is the assistance provided in response to a humanitarian crisis. Humanitarian aid may be logistical, financial or material and its central aim is to alleviate human suffering and save lives. This paper...

In a complex humanitarian emergency, a catastrophic breakdown of political, economic, and social systems, often accompanied by violence, contributes to a long-lasting dependency of the affected communities on external service. Relief systems, such as the Emergency Response Units of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, have served as a sound foundation for fieldw...

Social media is becoming popular as a key source of information on disasters and crisis situations. Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR) respondents can gain valuable insights and situational awareness by monitoring social mediabased feeds. Specifically, the use of microblogs (i.e., Twitter) has been shown to provide new information not otherwise attainable. In this paper, we present a n...