In order to maximise the coping strategies of those affected by disasters, it is important to acknowledge the differing vulnerabilities, needs and capacities of affected groups. Specific factors, such as gender, age, disability and HIV/AIDS status, affect vulnerability and shape people’s ability to cope and survive in a disaster context. In particular, women, children, older people and people living with HIV/ AIDS (PLWH/A) may suffer specific disadvantages in coping with a disaster and may face physical, cultural and social barriers in accessing the services and support to which they are entitled. Frequently ethnic origin, religious or political affiliation, or displacement may put certain people at risk who otherwise would not be  considered vulnerable. 

Failure to recognise the differing needs of vulnerable groups and the barriers they face in gaining equal access to appropriate services and support can result in them being further marginalised, or even denied vital assistance. Providing information to disaster-affected populations about their right to assistance and the means of accessing this assistance is essential. The provision of such information to vulnerable groups is particularly important as they may be less able to cope and recover than others when faced with the erosion or loss of their assets, and may need more support. For these reasons, it is essential to recognise specific vulnerable groups, to understand how they are affected in different disaster contexts, and to formulate a response accordingly. Special care must be taken to protect and provide for all affected groups in a nondiscriminatory manner and according to their specific needs.

However, disaster-affected populations must not be seen as helpless victims, and this includes members of vulnerable groups. They possess, and acquire, skills and capacities and have structures to cope with  and respond to a disaster situation that need to be recognised and supported. Individuals, families and communities can be remarkably resourceful and resilient in the face of disaster, and initial assessments should take account of the capacities and skills as much as of the needs and deficiencies of the affected population. Irrespective of whether a disaster is of sudden onset or develops gradually, individuals and communities will be actively coping and recovering from its effects, according to their own priorities.

The key vulnerable groups are women, children, older people, disabled people, PLWH/A and ethnic minorities. This is not an exhaustive list of vulnerable groups, but it includes those most frequently identified. Throughout the handbook, when the term ‘vulnerable groups’ is used, it refers to all these groups. There may be circumstances in which one particular group of vulnerable people is more at risk than another, but at any time of threat to one group, it is likely that others will also be at risk. In general, the handbook avoids specifying between different vulnerable groups. When any one group is at risk, users are strongly urged to think clearly of all the groups mentioned in this list.

In revising the handbook, care has been taken to address a number of important issues that have relevance to all sectors. These relate to 1) children, 2) older people, 3) disabled people, 4) gender, 5) protection, 6) HIV/AIDS and 7) the environment. They have been incorporated into the relevant sections of each chapter, rather then being dealt with in parallel. These particular issues were chosen on account of their relation to vulnerability, and because they were the ones most frequently raised in feedback from users of Sphere in the field. The handbook cannot address all cross-cutting issues comprehensively, but it recognises their importance.

Gender: The equal rights of women and men are explicit in the human rights documents that form the basis of the Humanitarian Charter. Women and men, and girls and boys, have the same entitlement to humanitarian assistance; to respect for their human dignity; to acknowledgement of their equal human capacities, including the capacity to make choices; to the same opportunities to act on those choices; and to the same level of power to shape the outcome of their actions.

Humanitarian responses are more effective when they are based on an understanding of the different needs, vulnerabilities, interests, capacities and coping strategies of men and women and the differing impacts of disaster upon them. The understanding of these differences, as well as of inequalities in women’s and men’s roles and workloads, access to and control of resources, decision-making power and opportunities for skills development, is achieved through gender analysis. Gender cuts across all the other cross-cutting issues. Humanitarian aims of proportionality and impartiality mean that attention must be paid to achieving fairness between women and men and ensuring equality of outcome.

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