Last year’s foremost crises in Haiti and Pakistan have stretched
the capacity of the international community in all sectors
including health. The Global Health Cluster, whose Secretariat
is based in WHO’s headquarters, has been valuable in both crises
by making the most of available resources and skills and
avoiding wastage and overlap. Since its inception, the cluster
approach has demonstrated that the effective coordination
greatly adds to the value of individual agencies and entities
involved in humanitarian health response. By providing training,
promoting review, monitoring, evaluation and adaptation, the
Global Health Cluster also ensures that successes, challenges,
lessons and gaps are clearly recognized and addressed. The
response and recovery work for the crises in Haiti and Pakistan
will not diminish any time soon. Both countries will require
sustained support to respond to the health needs of affected
populations. And these are only two of the many severe and
prolonged crises affecting communities