Author Profile

Ali Akbarisari

Affiliation: Department of Health Care Management, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Recent Posts

Characteristics of an Effective International Humanitarian Assistance: A Systematic Review

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Introduction: The objective of this study is to identify the effectiveness characteristics, review the definition of them, and develop a conceptual mapping of existing domains in the field of International Humanitarian Assistance (IHA).

Methods: We conducted a systematic review and searched the major databases (Science Direct, Scopus, Springer and Pubmed) and grey literature, including references of potentially eligible articles and conference proceedings through March 2015. Articles were included if they focused on IHA effectiveness. Reviewers independently identified the eligible studies and extracted data.

Results: 10 studies were included and 48 characteristics were identified. There is a lack of scientific studies and agreement on the characteristics of IHA effectiveness. 

Conclusion: This study could be the step toward an understanding of IHA effectiveness characteristics and its definitions with the findings making a base line for more research in this area. 

Virtual Disaster Simulation: Lesson Learned from an International Collaboration That Can Be Leveraged for Disaster Education in Iran

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Disaster education needs innovative educational methods to be more effective compared to traditional approaches. This can be done by using virtual simulation method. This article presents an experience about using virtual simulation methods to teach health professional on disaster medicine in Iran.

The workshop on the “Application of New Technologies in Disaster Management Simulation” was held in Tehran in January 2015. It was co-organized by the Disaster and Emergency Health Academy of Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Emergency and the Research Center in Disaster Medicine and Computer Science applied to Medicine (CRIMEDIM), Università del Piemonte Orientale. Different simulators were used by the participants, who were from the health system and other relevant fields, both inside and outside Iran.

As a result of the workshop, all the concerned stakeholders are called on to support this new initiative of incorporating virtual training and exercise simulation in the field of disaster medicine, so that its professionals are endowed with field-based and practical skills in Iran and elsewhere.

Virtual simulation technology is recommended to be used in education of disaster management. This requires capacity building of instructors, and provision of technologies. International collaboration can facilitate this process. Keywords: Virtual simulation, disaster management, education, training, Iran