Explore the Humanitarian Observatory’s robust research agenda for 2024, addressing global challenges with actionable insights, dedicated to generating profound understanding, and offering valuable perspectives on critical issues.

As the primary challenges toward the year 2024, the Humanitarian Observatory includes in its agenda the Climate Change crisis. In particular, we see a need to survey the main disasters brought about by the effects of climate change and the level of preparedness and knowledge of communities regarding this phenomenon. In line with this agenda, and at a local level, in late 2023, the research “Community Perceptions of the Impact of Climate Change in Argentina” was conducted at IFRC’s request.

Furthermore, the effects of climate change manifest as one of the main factors driving migration within communities. Consequently, as the intensity of its effects increases, it’s expected that higher levels of human mobility will be generated. Therefore, the Humanitarian Observatory believes that it is vitual to study the complex issues of migration and human mobility both in the near and long terms.

“Climate Change, Migration and Mental Health among top challenges for 2024”

Additionally, based on the recent research experience on organ and tissue donation (see below), we understand the importance of this topic. We aim to extend the research throughout the entirety of the Americas in 2024 to understand the state of affairs on the continent, aiming to have relevant information that raises awareness about the importance of these procedures.

Across all these themes, the Humanitarian Observatory considers Mental Health as a challenge for the coming years. After the pandemic, Mental Health issues have worsened, and the subject has begun to feature prominently on the agendas of major international forums and platforms. The WHO has already warned that it will be the leading cause of disability by the year 2030.

For this reason, to raise awareness within the community about the importance of Mental Health and to investigate the situation at a regional level, the Humanitarian Observatory plans to conduct research in the Americas on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support.

Building Knowledge: the need for Joint Research and Cooperation

Finally, as an IFRC Reference and Research Center, we are convinced that the Movement’s challenge lies in coordinating and conducting joint research across all regions where the Red Cross and Red Crescent are present. Considering our invaluable volunteerism, the emblem’s trust, and transparency, this will enable us to become the largest and most reliable research and knowledge production center on a global scale.

With the aim of promoting research for action and generating specific and disaggregated information for each region, the Humanitarian Observatory will advocate for this approach to encourage the participation of the largest possible number of National Societies per region within the framework of global research.

National, Regional and Global Studies

The Humanitarian Observatory has conducted research for IFRC on themes such as the cholera outbreak in Haiti (2022), Communities’ Perceptions on COVID-19 in the Americas (2022), and Climate Change in Argentina (2023), among others.

During 2023, also at IFRC’s request, it led a global investigation on “Lessons Learned by Strategic Sectors from the Pandemic.” This involved collecting 16,027 surveys across 90 countries, thanks to the participation of 42 National Societies and 10 strategic partners from the private and labor sectors.

This experience has been highly enriching, especially in coordinating with different National Societies located in all regions of the world and the private sector. Through this survey, we obtained primary information on the subject. As relevant findings, we consider it important to highlight the need for more National Societies to participate in order to gather a greater diversity of experiences.

At a national level, the latest research conducted on the topic of “Organ and Tissue Donation in Argentina” has been published by the country’s major media outlets in digital and print formats, primarily for upholding and affirming two of our fundamental principles: impartiality and neutrality. Its objective was to assess the level of knowledge that the Argentine population and healthcare personnel have regarding organ and tissue donation, as well as the current regulations in the country.

Among the main findings, we identified significant support from surveyed individuals for donation (74%). However, a high degree of unawareness about the topic and current legislation was observed (50% of those surveyed). Additionally, healthcare professionals expressed a lack of sufficient and ongoing training on the subject in educational and healthcare institutions. For this reason, the Humanitarian Observatory recommended including the topic in various curricula at all academic levels.

Moving Forward

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