Knowledge Management Support to Public Health in Humanitarian Emergency

Background: In public health, decisions are mainly taken based on data and a move is needed towards evidence-based decision. Healthcare can profit from the several benefits that Knowledge management (KM) can provide. Several challenges still need to be overcome, some of which concern KM and others of which are specific to healthcare. Knowledge management is a discipline that has become an established part of many applications and techniques, but its adoption in healthcare has been challenging. This is because the healthcare sector tends to rely on knowledge and evidence-based medicine in the performance of its daily healthcare activities. Methods: Bottom-up KM strategy is used for the study as the research is conducted into the activities of staff involved in key business processes. Interviews are conducted with participants selected by mixed
purposeful sampling consisting of expert sampling (experience of health emergencies and indicators)
and convenience sampling (ease of accessibility). Direct workplace observation is also used to obtain
findings. A qualitative methodology is used in order to understand the findings.
Results: The study investigated the importance of KM support to public health and to the work
performance during health emergencies. The research framework explores various aspects of KM to
provide a clear understanding of KM and how it may affect the work performance during health
emergencies in Sudan.
Conclusions: The key outcomes of the research findings associated to Knowledge management support
to public health in humanitarian emergency are offered such as improve disaster risk management
knowledge base system, strengthen central emergency expert team and KM support to the application of
health indicators of emergency