The theme for this year’s World Health Day is
“Health Facilities in Emergencies”. The
South-East Asia Region has long experienced many disasters
and in some of these health facilities were a major
casualty. For example, during the 26 December 2004
tsunami, 30 of the 240 health clinics were destroyed
in Aceh province, Indonesia and seriously damaged
77 others. In Sri Lanka, 92 health facilities were
destroyed including 35 hospitals. In 2001 in Gujurat,
India, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake destroyed 3812 health
facilities. These are some examples of disaster situations
where health services are affected and at times unavailable
when they are most needed.
The focus of the biennial World Disaster Reduction
Campaign (2008-2009) is also on the same issue: “Hospitals
Safe from Disasters: Reduce Risk, Protect Health Facilities,
Save Lives.” In this global effort, WHO is partnering
with the Secretariat of the UN International Strategy
for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) and the World Bank to
work so that all health facilities stand up to emergencies
and continue to function. The goal of raising awareness
in this issue is to effect changes that will ensure
that health facilities and services are able to function
in the aftermath of emergencies and disasters, protect
the lives of patients, serve the affected population
and keep health workers safe. This means:
ensuring
the structural resilience of health structures with
existing technologies;
keeping
the equipment and supplies of these health facilities
intact should an emergency happen;
improving
the preparedness and risk reduction capacity of health
workers; and ;
involving
communities in this effort.
Safe health facilities are those that are accessible
and function at maximum capacity immediately after
a disaster event. health facilities, large or small,
urban or rural, are the focus of this work. This is
not just the work of the health sector and health
professionals alone. We need to work together with
other sectors and experts from other fields such as
urban planners, architects, engineers to bring not
just awareness, but more importantly action. In WHO's
South-East Asia Region, Member States are committed
to achieving a benchmark that health facilities, old
or new, are safe from disasters. A Regional Consultation
with Member States was conducted in April 2008 to
plan out the next steps for country specific needs
and activities have begun in some countries already.
For years, a number of countries have been already
undertaking activities to reduce risks to health facilities
during disasters. This World Health Day theme is intended
to generate more momentum that will help sustain and
mainstream disaster risk reduction into health sector
initiatives. WHO together with its global partners
will continue to work with governments, international
and regional organizations, non governmental organizations
and individuals will build and sustain efforts that
ensure that health facilities can function during
and in the aftermath of disasters.
