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Safeguarding Health Facilities: Disaster Risk Reduction in the Health Sector

Explore traditional risks like epidemics, mental health, and management of cadavers in disasters. Learn impact on health and social/economic factors. Join the Health Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction.

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Safeguarding Health Facilities: Disaster Risk Reduction in the Health Sector

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  1. Disaster Risk Reduction in the Health Sector

  2. Some traditional risks associated with dissters and emergencies • Vector borne disease • Epidemics • Mental health • Management of cadavers • Lack of information for decision making

  3. Are our Hospitals and Health Facilities Safe? • Major disasters have left thousands of persons without access to health care. • In most cases, this is because health facilities could not function.

  4. Impact on Health • Increased risk of death or disability, especially among the sick and injured. • Health personnel left without working infrastructure. • Increased casualties, need for medical care and laboratory support, including loss of lives indirectly due to the disruption of services.

  5. Social and Economic Impact • Public sense of security: health services are the backbone of lifesaving efforts, and must be safeguarded. • Between 1981-1996, direct losses due to damage to health infrastructure was estimated at US$ 3.12 billion (ECLAC).

  6. A problem that can be solved... • New hospitals are clearly identifiable at the local, national and international levels. • It is no more costly to build a safe hospital than it is to build a hospital vulnerable to disasters. • The cost of protection is negligible when included in the earliest phase of design. The later in the process, the more expensive.

  7. Health Workshop on Disaster Risk ReductionWednesday, June 6 at 2:30 pm • Status and trends in disaster risk reduction in the health sector at global level • Case studies on why health facilities fail and what is being done • Grenada • Nepal • Ensuring that hospitals can remain functional • Philippines • A low-cost, high impact tool to identify and reduce risk in health facilities: the Hospital Safety Index • Introduction to the global ISDR/WHO Campaign on Safe Hospitals (2008-09)

  8. The good news… • Well-built or retrofitted hospitals have remained functional following disasters. • The health sector has solid examples and accumulated experience in improving safety of health infrastructure. • Today, the knowledge exists to assess vulnerability and to reduce risk in health facilities.

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