Emergency Response (MISP)

This toolkit was developed to help humanitarian program managers and healthcare providers meet the sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents when an emergency strikes. Young people represent a large portion of the populations affected by crises but humanitarian workers generally have no prior experience or training in ASRH. This toolkit was therefore developed, as a companion to the Inter-Agency Field Manual on Reproductive Health in Refugee Settings, to ensure that service providers and program managers have the right resources to make programs acceptable, accessible and appropriate for adolescents in emergency situations. It includes user-friendly tools for assessing adolescent needs, fostering participation with communities and parents, and identifying reproductive health entry points in existing adolescent programs. It also contains tools for service providers to more effectively work with adolescents at the clinic and community level.

Also available in French here

Provides guidance to health care providers for medical management after rape of women, men, and children. This guide is designed to assist qualified health care providers (medical co-ordinators, medical doctors, clinical officers, midwives, and nurses) to develop protocols for the management of rape survivors, based on available resources, materials, drugs, and national policies and procedures. Managers and trainers of health care services can also benefit, as they may use the guide to plan for survivor care and train health care providers accordingly. (The link is to a revised and updated edition of the original 2002 guide)

Also available in French and Arabic

This document presents a guidance for action on cooking fuel and the humanitarian response in Haiti.

The RHRC Consortium is working to mainstream EC by increasing awareness and knowledge of EC and improving access to and demand for EC in appropriate program locations.

The brochure version of the module can be downloaded in English (updated in October 2008; optional cover here), French (updated in October 2008; optional cover here), Spanish, Portuguese, Pashto, and Burmese.

Also available in Arabic, French, and Spanish

At the time of the assessment, four months after the January 12 earthquake, an estimated 2 million individuals remained displaced in settlement sites in earthquake-affected areas, including Port-au-Prince, Jacmel, Leogane, Petit Goave and Grand Goave. The Government of Haiti and humanitarian organizations have scaled up their response and contingency planning, particularly for food, water, health and emergency shelter with the advent of the rainy and hurricane season.

HeRAMS is a software-based information system developed by the global health cluster to support the collection, collation and analysis of information on the availability of health resources in different areas and locations and by type of point of delivery and level of care. Health resources include health facilities (infrastructure), personnel, and also the services provided. The matrix and checklist are accessible in the attachment.

The Inter-agency Field Manual on Reproductive Health in Humanitarian Settings is the result of a collaborative and consultative process engaging over 100 members from United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations that make up the Inter-agency Working Group (IAWG) on Reproductive Health in Crises. The updated information in this Field Manual is based on normative technical guidance of the World Health Organization. It also reflects the good practices documented in crisis settings around the world since the initial field-test version of the Field Manual was released in 1996, followed by the 1999 version, Reproductive Health in Refugee Situations: An Inter-agency Field Manual. This latest edition reflects the wide application of the Field Manuals principles and technical content beyond refugee situations, extending its use into diverse crises, including conflict zones and natural disasters.

This document summarizes the importance of implementing the MISP at the onset of every emergency, as advocacy messages for policy makers.

A self-instructional learning module that helps to increase knowledge of priority reproductive health services to initiate at the onset of a crisis. Module includes chapter quizzes and post-test. A passing score on the post-test will result in certification and (for U.S. nurses only) qualifies as 3.5 contact hours.

The Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) Advocacy Sheet translated into Thai

The revised cheat sheet summarizes the objectives and activities of the Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) for RH in crises as outlined in Reproductive Health in Humanitarian Settings: An Inter-agency Field Manual. The front page notes the objectives and the back page contains a matrix that maps minimum versus comprehensive RH services, and an outline of the content of the IAWG RH Kits.

The revised cheat sheet, translated into Bahasa Indonesian, summarizes the objectives and activities of the Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) for RH in crises as outlined in Reproductive Health in Humanitarian Settings: An Inter-agency Field Manual. The front page notes the objectives and the back page contains a matrix that maps minimum versus comprehensive RH services, and an outline of the content of the IAWG RH Kits.

The revised French cheat sheet summarizes the objectives and activities of the Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) for RH in crises as outlined in Reproductive Health in Humanitarian Settings: An Inter-agency Field Manual. The front page notes the objectives and the back page contains a matrix that maps minimum versus comprehensive RH services, and an outline of the content of the IAWG RH Kits.

The post-election violence in Kenya in the early months of 2008 displaced more than 500,000 people. The Womens Refugee Commission went to Kenya in April 2008 to assess the implementation of the MISP. Also available: Report for Contributors (,a href="http://www.womensrefugeecommission.org/docs/ken_misp_contributors_eng.pdf">English) and Report for Contributors (Kiswahili).

Assessment of MISP of reproductive health in February 2005 in Aceh province of Indonesia. (Summary in Indonesian available here).

Also available in French here.
See also: corrections to the IAWG Field Manual, 2007
IAWG Field Manual Survey Results, 2008

Report of an Inter-agency Global Evaluation 2004, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, November 2004. This report highlights the status of reproductive health services for refugees and internally displaced persons, identifies gaps in these services, and outlines the way forward with respect to strengthening and/or expanding services. In addition to the report and its appendices, there is a brief synopsis, web film, and PowerPoint presentations.

Summary, poceedings, book of abstracts, and select presentations from the RHRC Consortium Conference held in Brussels, Belgium, October 7-8, 2003.

The Sexual and Reproductive Health Programme in Crisis and Post-Crisis Situations in East, Southeast Asia and the Pacific (SPRINT) Initiative has developed a facilitators manual on priority sexual and reproductive health (SHR) services in humanitarian emergencies, including prevention and response to sexual violence. It can be used by persons from agencies, organizations or governments who provide training on SRH in crises and emergencies and who are familiar with the concepts. The manual provides step-by-step direction through each day of the training, including materials required.

Also available in Bahasa (download as zip files in two parts, I and II).

SPRINT convened its first annual SPRINT Review Meeting in Beijing, China from 21 to 22 October, 2009. The objectives of the meeting were to: 1. Review the rollout of the SPRINT in-country echo trainings; 2. Identify good practices and cross-cutting challenges in implementation of the MISP; 3. Share experiences and lessons learned in advocating to integrate the MISP into national emergency response plans; and 4. Brainstorm next steps to scale up awareness and implementation of the MISP where needed in the region.