Children in Crisis Humanitarian Program

Background
The Children in Crisis (CiC) Program seeks to address the health needs of children in humanitarian contexts. Over 400 million, or approximately one in six, children live in conflict zones. Nearly 37 million children are displaced due to conflict, poverty, or natural disasters. These children face disproportionate risks that have significant impacts on their ability to attain the highest level of health possible. In conflict settings, they are particularly vulnerable to harm from the loss of caregivers, disruption of social systems, direct violence, and limited access to pediatric health services. Understanding and responding to the unique needs of children in these environments is crucial to supporting children’s right to health and to prevent, mitigate, and address detrimental health consequences.
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‍Mission
The CiC program partners with non-governmental organizations, UN agencies, donors, governments, and academic institutions to provide technical expertise and implementation support to address pediatric health needs in humanitarian contexts. By working collaboratively with partner organizations and communities, we help to define both immediate and long-term needs of affected populations, guide program development and implementation, and strengthen national and international resilience strategies. Our focus is on delivering targeted, effective, and sustainable interventions in collaboration with communities and partners.
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‍Program Streams
CiC supports affected communities, partners, and governments through the following program streams: Knowledge Production, Technical Support, Education, and Policy and Advocacy.  

Current and Past Projects:

Strengthening Pediatric Surgical Capacity in Ukraine

By securing specialized surgical equipment, we supported Dnipro Children’s Hospital in expanding its surgical capacity and providing critical care to thousands of children affected by war-related injuries.

Community Health and Pre-Hospital Support in Bangladesh

Enhancing healthcare for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh through targeted training, needs assessments and technical support for midwives, paramedics, and community health volunteers.

Disaster Resilience in Dominica

Research efforts in Dominica identified the burden of noncommunicable disease deaths in the wake of Hurricane Maria.

Hurricane Maria Response in Puerto Rico

Providing essential care in the immediate post-hurricane period through door-to-door medical visits, field hospitals, and patient transport alongside the U.S. Army.

Improving Emergency Care in Bihar, India

BEPREPARED is a partnership with CARE-India and the Bihar State Ministry of Health to assess, design, implement and evaluate emergency care systems improvements. A multimodal intervention including equipment investment, renovation, just in time teaching and shoulder to shoulder mentorship emergency care was strengthened at five District Hospitals in Bihar State, India serving over 15 million people.

Thriving Child Tigray

To address the unseen impacts of armed conflicts on children, a team of child protection workers, social workers, nurses, and sociologists, evaluate mental health and psychosocial support needs to explore how factors such as health and hygiene, food and nutrition, and education impact mental health in Tigray, Ethiopia.

Assessing and Addressing COVID-19 Response in Humanitarian Settings

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread globally, the GHP conducted the first large scale study to identify key COVID-related challenges and best practices in humanitarian settings. Conducted for the Global Health Cluster, this study informed WHO and country leaders on effective response strategies in humanitarian settings.

Trauma Care Training across Ukraine

A novel pediatric and nursing trauma care training program was developed and implemented across Ukraine to strengthen trauma care capacity. Training has been transitioned to locally-led programs integrated within national education systems.

Pediatric Resuscitation Training in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

Training and education around the identification and management of hospitalized sick children was identified as a priority by the leadership in two oncology wards in the occupied Palestinian Territory.

Children in Crisis Team Members

Alexis Schmid, DNP, MPH, DTN

Dr. Alexis Schmid DNP, MPH, DTN is an emergency nurse, pediatric trauma and critical care nurse practitioner, and project manager with over 13 years of humanitarian and development experience in the Caribbean, Europe, Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and West Africa. Alexis has 18 years of clinical experience and is a technical expert in emergency care, trauma, general pediatrics, and neonatal and pediatric critical care nursing, as well as nursing education. Alexis has worked for national and international non-government organizations, UN agencies, governments, and universities on child health, infectious disease, emergency care system strengthening, and other national-level public health initiatives. Currently, Alexis is the Assistant Director of the Global Health Program at Boston Children’s Hospital and Co-Director of the Children in Crisis Program, which works to address critical health needs of crisis affected children and youth in humanitarian contexts in collaboration with  Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Alexis manages national and international programs throughout the project cycle, including design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation  and reporting, as well as provides technical and mixed-methods research  expertise. Alexis’ areas of research and work focus on conflict-affected children, trauma and emergency care of children in disaster or war, health needs of children in humanitarian crises, and the development of emergency care and trauma systems.

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Alexis Schmid, DNP, MPH, DTN
Assistant Director; Co-Director, Children in Crisis Program

Michelle L. Niescierenko, MD, MPH

Dr. Niescierenko is a Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Public Health physician and founding Chair of the Global Health Program at Boston Children’s Hospital. The Boston Children's Global Health Program is partnership-based, working to improve child health through research, program implementation and education globally. She has experience in pediatric care, public health and health systems building with host country governments in more than 30 countries, on 5 continents as well as with the WHO, the World Bank, US CDC, USAID and various global non-governmental organizations. Her career focus is on building sustainable systems in fragile economic, humanitarian and conflict settings. Most recent work includes Liberia, Nigeria, Ukraine, Iraq, Palestine, Indonesia and India.

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Michelle L. Niescierenko, MD, MPH
Grousbeck-Fazzalari Chair & Director, Global Health Program

David Mills, MD, MPH

Dr. David Mills is a pediatric emergency medicine physician and public health practitioner. He is the co-Director of the Children in Crisis working group at the Boston Children's Global Health Program and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.  Dr. Mills is also the co-Director of the Palestine Program for Health and Human Rights, a joint program between the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University and the Institute of Community and Public Health at Birzeit University in Palestine. He is an Assistant Professor in pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and a faculty affiliate in the Religion, Conflict, and Peace Initiative at the Harvard Divinity School. Dr. Mills' research, educational, and academic interests focus on the intersections between health and human rights, utilizing critical frameworks to elucidate the social and structural determinants of health, and health program implementation to improve access to health education, improve clinical care, and promote health equity.

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David Mills, MD, MPH
Co-Director, Children in Crisis Program