Dr. Qudsia Huda Risk Reduction and Emergency Preparedness Emergency and Humanitarian Action

1. ‘Making’ of the Policy Dr. Qudsia Huda Risk Reduction and Emergency Preparedness Emergency and Humanitarian Action WHO-EMRO NCPHEM NCPHEM

2. What is policy ? • Policy encompasses a broad range of laws, approaches, • prescriptions, guidelines and regulations. • Reflect the services are delivered, allocate decisions are • made, information is produced and used and actors • interact. • Policies evolve over time under multiple pressures • Policy documents become the sole reference available to • Emergency Relief actors NCPHEM

3. Why Policy? • To direct • To lead • To support • To pursue • To hold accountable • To control NCPHEM

4. Policy strength Inspired by an intimate knowledge of the context and a systemic and realistic approach Frankly admits weaknesses proposing sensible ways of overcoming them Formulated in terms understandable to different actors and widely disseminated NCPHEM

5. Policy weaknesse Quick turnover of actors and weak institutional memory Fast-evolving environment Corporate organizational attitude Communication deficiencies “weak policies are only symptoms of institutional factors, and correcting the policies without correcting the institutions will bring little long-term benefits” (Easterly and Levine, 2002) NCPHEM

6. challenges “Both economists and health policy analysts tend to provide detailed prescriptions on what should be done, but without clear instructions on how to do it and without good explanations of why things go wrong” (Reich, 1996) NCPHEM

7. Political nature of policy making Competing policy directions leading to non-implementation Implementation of disconnected policy components of policy backed by strong parties Old policies in new clothes can be irrelevant to the country’s changed conditions Official policies can be formulated by vertical programs poorly integrated into consistent network Can be blueprinted from international models by outsider expert challenges NCPHEM

8. Strategic Approach Developing a National Policy on Health Emergency Preparedness, Response, Recovery NCPHEM

9. The problems that we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them. Albert Einstein NCPHEM

10. Health is a right not a charity NCPHEM

11. Objectives • Legal Binding • Enforcement of acts • Provides Direction: guidelines • Creates Platform to Work Together • Ensure accountability • Ensures Political Commitment • Better management • Ensure effective solution NCPHEM

12. Key Elements of Policy Defining Hazards Emergency Management of the Country Role of Health Sector Levels of guidance: local, regional, national NCPHEM

13. Ways to go ahead • Participatory? • Evidence based background information? • Assessment? • Target Audience? • Actors? • Areas of work? NCPHEM

14. Issue:Management of Dead Bodies From Policy to Action National Policyall dead bodies should be recovered, identified and disposed or returned to the relatives all missing should be recorded and all efforts should be made to find the bodies: families should be assisted NCPHEM

15. Identification process Who is in charge How to perform When to perform Storage of the dead bodies (setting up of Temporary morgue) Guidelines NCPHEM

16. Procedures / Protocols How to handle bodies and return them to families (administrative papers) Burial of the unidentified dead bodies Protocols for taking DNA samples NCPHEM

17. Preparedness Training activities at different levels for different target groups to build capacity Advocacy and awareness activities (myth- dead bodies are source of infectious diseases) Enactment of laws Information management – documentation, public information Community participation (mass burial) Logistics Forensic institutes NCPHEM

18. Response Setting up DVI team Considering the cultural and religious aspects Setting up the storage and management of the dead bodies Setting up the coordination mechanism Information and resource management Special actions: Use of volunteers Temporary burial Preservation for crime evidence NCPHEM

19. Recovery Evaluation of work done Lesson learned Review and revision of plan Revision of guideline/procedures Recommendation for change/update policy NCPHEM

20. Steps to consider in developing policy Preliminary meeting with representative from all STAKEHOLDERS • Needs identified and prioritized • Formation of a working group • Framework for policy • Areas of work identified Working Group meets Larger expert group from the relevant working group meets • Draft policy developed • Policy document finalized • Disseminated among all stakeholders Draft shared with national level policy maker for feedback Policy approved by the government / authority • Policy implementation initiated NCPHEM

21. Policy Implementation vs Law enactment and enforcement NCPHEM

22. Group Work • Discuss in group for 15 mins and come up with a clear policy to support your ‘issue’ • Present your policy in 2 mins and defend. NCPHEM

23. Issue:Management of Dead Bodies From Policy to Action National Policyall dead bodies should be recovered, identified and disposed or returned to the relatives all missing should be recorded and all efforts should be made to find the bodies: families should be assisted NCPHEM

24. Trickling of policy • Policy • Guidelines • Procedure plan • Action Preparedness Response Recovery NCPHEM

25. 20 mins NCPHEM

26. Thank you NCPHEM