For the first time, University of Hawai'i graduate students will be able to participate and obtain credit by attending a humanitarian assistance course by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), offered every year at the East West Center.

Hawai'i plays a key role in hosting the three-week course, which takes place only twice a year in the U.S. The other is held at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. The ICRC's Health Emergencies in Large Populations course focuses on public health, ethics, law and policy issues in crisis situations, including natural disasters and man-made conflict, making UH Manoa part of a program designed to enhance the disaster response capacity of professionals around the world.

The Hawai'i-based Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance has been offering the course for the U.S. Department of Defense since 1997, helping professionals from around the Asia-Pacific region come to Hawaii and attend the course.

This year, 26 public health, disaster response, military, and humanitarian professionals from 12 countries are attending. They include two UH Manoa students from the Disaster Management Humanitarian Assistance program under the Department of Regional and Urban Planning.