Good practice guidelines

Our Good Practice Guidelines are a result of 23 years of implementing effective staff care for relief, development and mission organisations.

We have put together this simple guide as our contribution to improving staff care around the world for people who work on projects that are committed to positive change.

Download a copy of our Good Practice Guidelines

Standard of care to prepare people throughout their assignement

We believe in the integrated care of staff and are committed to this approach. We keep in mind physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual health, and the safety and security issues affecting staff and their immediate dependents.

This approach is increasingly highlighted in the literature concerned with the health care of long- term expatriates, and those working on arduous or dangerous assignments. However, it is often poorly implemented in practice owing to inadequate time and the limited experience in this specialist field amongst many health care providers.

Continuity of care

We believe in the continuity of care of staff from the time of recruitment to the completion of an assignment, including the crucial period of overseas deployment, which is often omitted or undervalued in standard travel medicine.

Relational care of staff

We are committed to the relational care of staff, and consider brief insubstantial pre and post assignment care by non-specialists as inadequate in many circumstances. We believe in the need for thorough preparation of those working abroad, with the view that the “jab and go” approach is utterly inadequate. As important as vaccinations are, less than one disease episode in ten when abroad is preventable by vaccinations.