title: The elephant in the room: collaboration and competition among relief organizations during high-profile disasters.
abstract: The non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that assume the bulk of emergency care during large-scale disasters in the developing world must expend considerable time and resources to ensure donations to sustain their field operations. This long-standing dilemma for the humanitarian community can create a competitive environment that: Compromises the delivery and quality of services, Allows the effectiveness of operations to be compromised by a lack of cooperation and collaboration, Disrupts the timely and accurate coordination and analysis of outcome measures that are crucial to successful response in the future, and Undermines the long-term capacity of indigenous aid organizations. This article addresses problems and potential solutions for improved coordination and long-term capacity-building of humanitarian aid.
authors.affiliation: Public Health Readiness Office, American Medical Association, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Italo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Subbarao
authors.forename: Matthew K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Wynia
authors.forename: Frederick M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Burkle
mesh_terms: D000533:Altruism; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004190:Disasters; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D054527:Mass Casualty Incidents; D009938:Organizations / Q000458:organization & administration; D017149:Private Sector / Q000941:ethics / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D012066:Relief Work / Q000941:ethics / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D014480:United Nations