More than 130 days of intense hostilities have unleashed a devastating humanitarian crisis and profound human suffering in Gaza and Israel. The October 7 Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people in Israel and the abduction of 240 people. Subsequent Israeli bombardment and military operations in Gaza have resulted in the deaths of nearly 29,000 people, injury to more than 68,000 people, and 7,000 people remaining missing as of mid-February. Women and children comprise approximately 70 percent of the reported fatalities in Gaza. 

The conflict has...

More than 130 days of intense hostilities have unleashed a devastating humanitarian crisis and profound human suffering in Gaza and Israel. The October 7 Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people in Israel and the abduction of 240 people. Subsequent Israeli bombardment and military operations in Gaza have resulted in the deaths of nearly 29,000 people, injury to more than 68,000 people, and 7,000 people remaining missing as of mid-February. Women and children comprise approximately 70 percent of the reported fatalities in Gaza.

The...

Last updated: October 23, 2023

The humanitarian conditions in Gaza have continued to deteriorate since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent IDF offensive in Gaza. Over 700,000 civilians have evacuated northern areas of Gaza and moved southward as Israel prepares for a ground offensive, and 350,000 people still remain in Gaza City and the...

By Ganesh Dhungana, Project Lead, Nepal at HHI’s Program on Resilient Communities

...

On September 8, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake and several strong aftershocks struck central Morocco, about 46 miles southeast of Marrakech. Recent reports indicate that the earthquake and its aftershocks resulted in the deaths of more than 2,100 people and injured more than 2,400 others as of September 10. The number of recorded casualties will almost certainly increase in the coming days as humanitarian assessments and search-and-rescue operations continue. The earthquakes affected remote, mountainous areas in...

What you can do

Thank you to all of the many expressions of concern and requests to help. The most effective way to assist is to identify a reputable aid agency that has direct efforts in the region and provide financial support. For resources and ways to donate, please visit the following organizations:

• American Red Cross
• Maui United Way
• ...

As seen in MGH Global OB-GYN Newsletter

Road traffic crashes are now the leading cause of death for young adults worldwide. Ninety percent of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. In Tanzania, death from road traffic crashes is estimated to be roughly double the global rate. There is no public emergency medical services system, and the private ambulances that do exist are prohibitively expensive for average civilians. Consequently, most people are transported to health facilities by untrained laypeople.

A central...

When I pull into the lot at the Harold Parker State Forest in North Andover at 8am, the early morning fog still burning off, people in camouflage and combat boots unload boxes alongside my car. Straight ahead is a roadblock erected out of boards, its scrawled, red-painted letters ordering passerby to stop and have their papers ready.

I’ve arrived at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI)’s three-day field simulation, which provides humanitarian students and professionals the rare opportunity to fully immerse themselves in the...

An armed conflict between rival factions of the military government of Sudan began on 15 April 2023, has led Sudan to the brink of renewed civil war.  Fighting broke out in western Sudan, in the capital city of Khartoum and in the Darfur region. As of 25 April, at least 559 people have been killed and more than 4,000 others had been injured. The conflict began with attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on key government sites, and...

Relief and recovery efforts in both Türkiye and Syria in the aftermath of the devastating February 6, 2023 earthquake are ongoing. On February 20, another magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck the region, resulting in further destruction. As of Thursday, April 6, the earthquakes have resulted in 58,875 confirmed deaths in Türkiye and Syria. Earlier damage surveys indicated that 164,321 buildings collapsed or were heavily damaged, 2.2 million people had been evacuated from the...

In support of those responding to the earthquake in Turkey, the Building a Better Response Project (...

The crisis in Ukraine and the surrounding region is of a size and scope that has required a rapid and intensive scaling up of aid providers to meet the needs of the affected people and communities. More than 200 humanitarian actors – over half of whom are Ukrainian non-governmental organizations – are responding inside the country with lifesaving interventions. National and international organizations are also working to assist the millions of refugees in neighboring countries. Operating in a complex humanitarian emergency of this nature necessitates that all actors engaged in the...

At the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, we aim to relieve human suffering in war and disaster by conducting interdisciplinary, practice-based research and education that can be used by scholars, policymakers, NGOs, and others to foster interdisciplinary collaboration. Russia's aggression in Ukraine has severely undermined the concept of sovereignty and has led to escalating human rights violations. We join the international community in condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine and express unwavering support to the people of Ukraine. We urge our community to unite for peace and act with...

On April 29 – 30, 2022, the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative held its annual humanitarian response simulation. Working in teams representing different non-governmental organizations, graduate students from GHP 515/518 interacted with a variety of local and non-state actors portrayed by volunteers to create an aid delivery plan in response to a complex humanitarian crisis scenario. Through this simulation, students utilized their knowledge of the humanitarian field gained in classroom learning sessions and further developed the practical skills needed to engage...

The report emphasizes the case of Pugad Island applies to disaster-prone small island communities in the Asia-Pacific and equatorial regions

By HHI Resilient Communities Program

A new study by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) in partnership with the Ateneo de Manila University and the University of Santo Tomas reveals factors hindering community resilience in small island communities in the Philippines. These include limited resources and...

HHI is proud to share these two recent publications from Frederick M. Burkle, Jr., MD, MPH, DTM, FAAP, FACEP, former Senior Fellow and Scientist at HHI for over 17 years.

This two-part article examines the global public health (GPH) information system deficits emerging in the COVID-19 pandemic. It surveys past missed opportunities for public health (PH) information systems and operational improvements, examines current megatrend changes to information management, and describes a new multi-disciplinary model for population-based management (PBM) supported by...

The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative is thrilled to announce the launch of our newly redesigned website. The site includes information about HHI's ongoing humanitarian research and educational programming. 

We invite you to explore the site and learn more about the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. 

Massachusetts, USA — A survey by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) has found that before the onset of the Coronavirus disease or Covid-19, disaster risk reduction (DRR) actors in the Philippines had very limited connections and collaborations on pandemics.

Massachusetts, USA — A study by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) has found a reliance on international actors within the disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) system in the Philippines. A continued reliance on international aid agencies means the Philippines is not realizing its full potential for utilizing local organizations to bolster the country’s DRR and CCA system, HHI researchers warned.

“Local community-based organizations (CBOs) and national non-...

The Education in Crisis Project (part of the Risk and Resilience Program) conducted interviews with Syrian faculty, students and administrators to understand how medical and nursing education are maintained during an active conflict in which there is a lack of health care workers. The main themes will be explored in the forthcoming HHI report entitled, “Window of Hope”: Maintaining Education of Health Care Workers in Syria”, which is scheduled to be released in September 2020. The potential policy implications for humanitarians are discussed in ...