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The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) is a university-wide center involving multiple entities within the Harvard academic and medical community. The Initiative combines expertise in public health, medicine, social science, and humanities to advance research, practice, and policy in the field of humanitarian assistance to populations affected by war and disaster.
The mission of the Initiative is to relieve human suffering in war and disaster by advancing the science and practice of humanitarian response worldwide. HHI fosters interdisciplinary collaboration in order to:
- Improve the effectiveness of humanitarian strategies for relief, protection and
prevention;
- Instill human rights principles and practices in these strategies;
- Educate and train the next generation of humanitarian leaders.
 HHI NEWS |
Support for Burmese relief workers is critical in the response to Cyclone Nargis. To learn more about HHI's response, click
here.
Click here to read an op-ed by
Dr. Jennifer Leaning on Bejing's response to the Sichuan Earthquake, as well as information on how you can help.
HHI simulates the Darfur/Chad border in an educational exercise for graduate students participating
in the Humanitarian Studies program. Read more about the program in the Boston Globe.
Listen to Dr. Julia VanRooyen speak about HHI's response to the gender-based violence epidemic in the Congo on Public Radio International's The World.
| HHI IN THE FIELD |
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HHI Addresses Rape in the Congo |
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 In May 2007, HHI established a partnership with Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo to address
the widespread sexual violence that has been called "the worst in the world" by U.N. Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes.
Read more about the root causes of sexual violence in conflict-affected areas and Harvard's efforts to alleviate the suffering
of women who have been attacked in eastern Congo.
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Future Leaders in Humanitarian Response |
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During a field assignment in Ethiopia, Humanitarian Studies Initiative students Jennifer Chan, MD, MPH, and Susan Bartels, MD and MPH '07 candidate, could only work on their laptops every other night, and even then it was by candlelight.
That's because the pastoral town of Moyale, where they were setting up a drought-warning system, alternates which side of town receives electricity each night. While darkness every second night presented a challenge, seasoned international aid workers Bartels and Chan were able to complete the mission at hand... |
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