Course material

1. (Mt) – Humanity Catholic Distance University Responses
First Culture is the values, morals and beliefs of a society. Stemming from the society’s
culture is their ethics that are justifiable by their culture. Their ethics drives societies laws,
policies and governance. Cultural ethics are the identity of a community. It is important that
the international and humanitarian responders that provide assistance to communities
after disaster to understand and value the impacted communities cultural ethics. It is
important because to give effective and successful aid to an impacted population, a
responder will have to understand basic cultural concepts. For example, in eastern Africa
during the Ebola crisis, health responders received a lot of pushback and distrust from the
impacted community because public health measures did not align with the community’s
culture. As part of both the Christian and Muslim community, it was tradition to wash the
dead and prepare them for burial. Public health workers found that during this ceremony,
the community was coming in direct contact with the patient who died from Ebola.
Therefore they were becoming infected. The international aid workers tried to explain the
dangers of the disease and how it was safer to remove the dead in a body bag but the
community would not listen. Their beliefs of how to properly bury their dead run so deep
that they wouldn’t consider any other ritual. Health officials reached out to community
religious leaders for assistance and advice, which ultimately the religious found historical
context in their holy book of how alternatively to bury a body with a communicable disease
by praying over it and not washing the body. With this advice, new measures were taken by
the African governments and humanitarian organization to safely bury a body with respect
to the community’s culture (Maxmen, 2015). By the humanitarian responders actively
seeking out measures that respected the cultural ethics of the community but still provided
the assistance necessary for preventing the spread of disease, many lives are saved. That is
why it is important to understand and value the cultural ethics of a community as they
relate to humanitarian/international disasters. Similarly, it is important that responders
conduct themselves ethically as well because it will establish a trusting relationship
between the international/humanitarian responders and the impacted community. From
the example given above, the responders were entering impacted community in full
HAZMAT suits treating the situation only as a health issue (Maxmen, 2015). The responders
were delivering ebola education packets and telling the community of what to-do and not
to-do. There was little to no communication of the community’s culture taken into account
of delivering the assistance. This lack of communication as well as few responders to handle
the amount of patient’s and a history of distrust with the government lead to conspiracy

2. theories that the responders and doctors were killing the patients and stealing their organs
(Maxmen, 2015). By addressing this distrust, humanitarian aid organizations received help
from religious leaders who advised the responders how to be more respectful. This lead to
responders to allow ceremony burials with the family present to pray but at a distance to
prevent the spread of disease (Maxmen, 2015). By addressing the culture differences and
changing the way humanitarian responders provided aid, trust was able to build between
the responders and the impacted community so assistance could be given more efficiently
and successfully. To ensure successful assistance to an impacted community, resources
have to be distributed ethically as well. For example, there are cultures that women cannot
receive medical treatment unless it is from a female provider. In this case, humanitarian
organizations will need to ensure they have a female health provider on staff, preferably
enough female health providers to meet the capacity of females in the impacted community
(Lensu, 2003). Another example would be to distribute food that aligns with their cultural
needs, such as many Muslims do not eat pork therefore if humanitarian providers
distributed pork to the population then many individuals would find themselves in a “starve
or violate their culture” predicament. This would prove the humanitarian aid unsuccessful
in helping the impacted community (Lensu, 2003). For humanitarian and international
assistance to be effective and successful, it is absolutely critical that responders understand
the cultural ethics of the impacted community and conduct their assistance that is
respectful to the community. References: Lensu, Maria. (2003). Respect for culture and
customs in international humanitarian assistance. Implications for principles and policy.
Retrieved from: http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2894/1/U615845.pdf Maxmen, Amy. (January
2015). How the fight against Ebola tested a culture’s traditions. National Geographic.
Retrieved from: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/01/150130-ebola-
virus-outbreakepidemic-sierra-leone-funerals/ Second Understanding cultural ethics has
multiple importances to humanitarians disasters. First and foremost, it helps the
humanitarians provide help to victims of calamities. People from different cultures have
unique needs and vulnerabilities. Kapur and Smith (2010) assert that culture determines
the vulnerable people in a population. For instance, one of the vulnerable groups, old people
differs from one culture to another. In some culture, a person is considered old when
he/she can no longer provide for their livelihood. Therefore, the kind of vulnerable people
that the humanitarians need to focus on during crises responses may differ. Failure to
understand this culture can bring problems in the provision of help. Nevertheless,
respecting and valuing people’s culture can ease humanitarians work and foster
cooperation (Kapur & Smith, 2010). Besides, determining the vulnerables, understanding
cultural ethic can as well aid the responders to communicate with the victims and meet
their needs effectively. Comprehending cultural ethics likewise eliminate cultural barriers
to accessing help. Certain cultures pose obstacles to some people. In most culture, admitting
that one has psychological problems is considered a sign of weakness, especially for men.
Kapur and Smith, (2010) agree that this hinders victims of crises from getting mental help
which is essential as during disaster people acquire stress and PTSD. These are issues that
need to be resolved for the victims of the disaster to recover. Also, the definition of old
people in various cultures can prevent valid vulnerable old people from getting vital

3. services. Such people require special attention and immediate medical attention. However,
if a culture considers someone who is regarded as aged by the UN otherwise, it prevents
them from getting the best support. According to the UN, a person of age 60 and above is
old, whether one is still physically strong or not. Additionally, respondents should conduct
themselves ethically. They need to respect the human right of equality between women and
men. They should ensure there is equitable distribution of resources and assistance to
women, men, boys, and girls. This includes their abilities to make their own choices. Lowrie
(2003) points out that the respondents also need to observe the universal ethical principles
and professional standards. This constitutes provision of health service; they need to
demonstrate utmost competencies. It is to promote the well- being of the victims. The
respondents also need to respect the wishes of people, maintain confidentially, and get
informed contest from victims. This applies even one requires an immediate response. They
need to get consent before conducting any medical procedure according to the medical code
of ethics. Confidentiality, on the other hand, involves ensuring that sensitive medical data
such as HIV/AIDS status of a person is protected (Kapur & Smith, 2010). Absence of
confidentiality can affect these people and their families as they are mostly discriminated.
References Kapur, G. B., & Smith, J. P. (2010). Emergency public health: Preparedness and
response. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Lowrie, S. (2003). Reflections on the Humanitarian
Charter.