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EDITORIALS: Edward J Mills Sharing evidence on humanitarian relief BMJ 2005; 331: 1485-1486 [Full text]

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Measuring humanitarian relief: the real aid of aid

José-Luis N. Portero, Maria Y. Rubio   (29 December 2005)

Measuring humanitarian relief: the real aid of aid 29 December 2005
José-Luis N. Portero, Project Coordinator Tuberculosis Research and Training Center. Tayuman St. Sta. Cruz. Manila. 1003 Philippines, Maria Y. Rubio Send response to journal: Re: Measuring humanitarian relief: the real aid of aid	Evidence on humanitarian relief will shed light over what is to be done in the future (1). Humanitarian aid in emergencies as well as in development projects, specially, through the non-government organisations (NGOs), is an excellent opportunity to do independent research, from health to human rights issues, on the field. But data coming from independent sources can be sometimes very sensitive for the local governments and also for international organisations and NGOs. We cannot forget that most of the disasters happen in developing countries where political conflicts merge with hard-living conditions and deficient freedom of speech. On the other hand, humanitarian organisations are concerned on the public impact of some of this information, particularly failure experiences, because they could damage their fund raising, their image and, of course, the ”humanitarian cause”. Aid beneficiaries remain without voice in most of the reports, or worst, they are manipulated in propaganda -like advertisements. In the meantime, the public opinion from donor countries receives uncompleted or biased information. There is a feeling from the field that things can be better done if we will really face the problems more openly, measuring the real impact with the right tools, and finding the right solutions that many times are in the off-beaten roads. In this sense, we consider an example the critical review done by Amir Attaran on the Millenium Development Goals (2) but we are worried about the unfair reactions from some of the humanitarian and international organisations when somebody dares to speak out questioning the real impact of the aid. Killing the messenger does not resolve the problem. 1. Edward J Mills. Sharing evidence on humanitarian relief. BMJ 2005; 331: 1485-1486 2. Attaran A (2005) An immesurable crisis? A criticism of the Millenium Development Goals and why they cannot be measured. PloS Med 2(10);e318 Competing interests: None declared