OBJECTIVE The primary mission of hospital ships is to provide acute medical and surgical services to U.S. forces during military operations. Hospital ships also provide a hospital asset in support of disaster relief and humanitarian assistance (HA) operations. HA missions afford medical care to populations with vastly different sets of medical conditions from combat casualty care, which affects...

BACKGROUND Since the start of the Syrian crisis in 2011, civil unrest and armed conflict in the country have resulted in a rapidly increasing number of people displaced both within and outside of Syria. Those displaced face immense challenges in meeting their basic needs. This study sought to characterize internal displacement in Syria, including trends in both time and place, and to provide in...

Large scale Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief (HA/DR) operations often require the intervention and aid of various agencies from all over the world. As a result, HA/DR operations involve many negotiation and coordination issues. Although a number of studies have emphasized computer assistance for negotiations, it remains unclear how such information and communication technology could be e...

The Syrian conflict is now a humanitarian and public health catastrophe for the country and the region. UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) AntÓnio Guterres described the current situation as the greatest humanitarian disaster of the past two decades, requiring the largestever humanitarian appeal. The UN has called for US$5·2 billion for a regional response plan that includes support to n...