The Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies becomes a WHO Collaborating Centre

Photo: DR

The Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies is to become a collaborating centre of the World Health Organization (WHO). For a period of four years, it will bring its academic expertise to the organisation in the form of support for humanitarian policy operations, the WHO has announced.

Directly affiliated with the UNIGE Faculty of Medicine, the Geneva Centre for Humanitarian Studies has for twenty-eight years brought together cross-disciplinary expertise in humanitarian training and research. Drawing on partnerships with organisations including Médecins sans frontières (MSF) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), it works to strengthen the capacity of humanitarian professionals to respond to increasingly complex crisis contexts. The GCHS has been directed since 2019 by Professor Karl Blanchet.

WHO collaborating centres are institutions — such as research institutes, university departments, or university-affiliated centres — officially designated by the Organisation to support its programmes. There are now more than 700 of them, spread across more than 80 member countries. They work alongside the WHO on a wide range of subjects, from nursing and occupational medicine to infectious diseases, nutrition, mental health, chronic conditions, and health technologies.

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