Emory faculty author and lead revision of 2018 Inter-Agency Field Manual on Reproductive Health in Humanitarian Settings

Emory University faculty, including members of the Rollins School of Public Health, helped author and lead the revision of the 2018 Inter-Agency Field Manual on Reproductive Health in Humanitarian Settings. The field manual is recognized as the global standard for the provision of sexual and reproductive health services in emergency settings. The 2018 version includes significant input from Emory faculty at the School of Medicine, School of Nursing, and Rollins School of Public Health. Emory faculty were co-lead authors on three chapters and contributing authors on three additional chapters in the manual. Rollins contributors include Dabney P. Evans, PhD, MPH, and Lara S. Martin, MPH.

Emory authors contributed on chapters pertaining to gender-based violence, logistics (a new chapter to the manual), monitoring and evaluation, the minimum initial service package, human rights (a new chapter to the manual), safe abortion care, and maternal and child health.

In addition to introducing new chapters to the manual and updating content, the authors grounded human rights throughout the manual, updated the gender-based violence chapter to focus on prevention and survivor-centered care within humanitarian contexts, introduced a monitoring and evaluation section to every chapter, and highlighted LGBTQ needs throughout the manual for the first time.

With support from the Department of OB/GYN in the School of Medicine and the Dean’s Offices of the School of Nursing and Rollins School of Public Health, Emory has been a member of the Steering Committee of the Inter-Agency Working Group on Reproductive Health in Crises (IAWG) (which is made up of 43 agencies) since 2016. IAWG is a coalition of UN agencies, NGO partners, research and donor partners.