Renewed collaboration between KI and MSF with support from the Kamprad Family Foundation

Karolinska Institutet (KI) is renewing its educational collaboration with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and will soon launch two new courses. The courses are possible thanks to support from The Kamprad Family Foundation. The focus is on courses that provide participants with the skills and tools they need to work with healthcare interventions in low-resource contexts, humanitarian disasters and health crises, both globally and locally.

The collaboration between the research group Global Disaster Medicine - Health Needs and Responses at KI and MSF has been ongoing for over ten years. Since 2023, the Centre for Health Crises at KI is also part of the collaboration. 

Collaboration made possible thanks to The Kamprad Family Foundation 

The continued collaboration on education will initially focus on the two new courses. The course Health Assistance in Humanitarian Crises and has been running at various occasions, and with somewhat varying content, for several years. It will now be returning with a new format and updated content. In addition, a new course called Anesthesia and critical care with limited resources is also being launched, aimed at anesthesia and critical care specialists who will be working in humanitarian disasters and health crises. Both courses are open to Swedish and international participants alike. They are designed by and will be taught by people, including international lecturers, that have extensive experience and knowledge in the subjects. All in all, the courses contribute to building a resource base of people with knowledge and experience of working in global humanitarian disasters and health crises, which in the long term also supports Sweden's health crisis preparedness. 

The continued collaboration on education and the investment in these two courses has been made possible thanks to a generous contribution from The Kamprad Family Foundation. The contribution will also cover the course fees for the participants who attend the courses as part of their preparation to go on MSF missions. 

- “It means a lot to us that The Kamprad Family Foundation has chosen to support these courses. The right training and preparation are crucial to be able to carry out humanitarian operations as efficiently and successfully as possible, and thus provide the best possible care to people in urgent need,” says Ylva Jonsson Strömberg, Secretary General of MSF Sweden. 

Course in planning and implementing humanitarian health interventions

The course Health Assistance in Humanitarian Crises teaches participants how to plan and implement humanitarian health interventions. This time around, in addition to updated content, the course structure has been changed, to consist of four modules: global health and humanitarian crises, sexual and reproductive health and rights and child health in humanitarian crises, communicable and non-communicable diseases in humanitarian crises and epidemic outbreaks, and project planning and response in humanitarian crises. This allows for both medical and non-medical staff to study different parts of the course, depending on what is relevant to their upcoming mission. It will make the course accessible to more people and increase the added value of it. 

The first new Health Assistance in Humanitarian Crises course will take place at KI in the spring of 2025. Registration for the course is now open. To be eligible for it, participants must either be in an ongoing recruitment process for missions with MSF, or take the course as part of a further training supported by their employer. 

Anesthesia and intensive care in humanitarian health crises 

Working in anaesthesia and critical care in low-resource contexts, humanitarian disasters and health crises poses unique challenges, due to the limited availability of medicine and equipment, as well as the shortcomings in the health care systems. The course Anesthesia and critical care with limited resources is a one-of-a-kind course for anesthesia and critical care specialists who will be working or plans to work under such conditions. The course provides them with practical tools to support them in working safely and ethically in low-resource settings. 

Anesthesia and critical care with limited resources will be offered for the first time in November 2024. 

While the course is going on, MSF and the Centre for Health Crises will organise a theme night about anaesthesia and intensive care in humanitarian and health emergencies, which is open to the public. Both Swedish and international experts in the field will participate. The event will take place online and on site at Volvo Studio Stockholm on November 20 from 18.30. For more information and invitation, please contact Sophie Rosvall at MSF sophie.rosvall@lakareutangranser.se.