Briefly Noted is a short PAHO/WHO monthly bulletin containing disaster news and notes. Please feel free to share this message with colleagues. To subscribe, send your name, organization and e-mail address to disaster-newsletter@paho.org.

Our print newsletter, Disasters: Preparedness and Mitigation in the Americas, will now come out twice a year, allowing time and space for in-depth articles, interviews and other material in support of disaster management. The next issue will be out at the end of October.

Brazil Takes Charge of Portuguese LEADERS Courses

Since 2003, Brazil has taken over the annual LEADERS courses in Portuguese. The international LEADERS course develops skills and knowledge about health, disasters and development for managers.

For the past eight years, the course has been given in Spanish by PAHO/WHO, through FUNDALIDERES, in a several Latin American countries (and twice in English). However, the government of Brazil has earmarked its own budget funding for the courses in Portuguese. The Ministry of Health considers the LEADERS course an important training tools.

Brazil has, in addition, hosted participants from other countries in the Americas and candidates from Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa.

Read more about the LEADERS courses in all languages.

Interagency Website on Safe Hospitals –A New Resource

The PAHO website on ‘Safe Hospitals’ has been converted into an interagency (PAHO, WHO and ISDR) information and resource hub on Hospitals Safe from Disasters, the theme of the current World Disaster Reduction Campaign.

Visit the website regularly for news about what countries worldwide are doing to make hospitals safe. Browse through global print and multimedia resources, including DVDs and video clips and find out more about events like next year’s World Health Day, which will build on the Hospitals Safe from Disaster campaign. Most importantly,

The site is now home to the PAHO/WHO Hospital Safety Index, a tool that provides an initial snapshot of a health facility’s safety level

Click here to visit the website or follow this link to submit information about initiatives in your country.

One After Another, Hurricanes Deal Heavy Blow to Health in the Caribbean

Within a six week period, hurricanes Fay, Gustav, Hanna, Ike, and Josephine challenged emergency preparedness in several countries. Four storms hit Haiti, flooding nine of the country’s 10 Departments and claiming 423 lives. The only hospital in Gonaives had to close and patients were evacuated. The health system in this area was incapacitated.

Cuba’s principal hospitals, clinics and family doctors’ facilities suffered serious damage following Gustav and Ike, forcing the transfer of patients to other facilities and the relocation of some health services. More than 1,300 health facilities reported damage.

The hospital on Grand Turk Island suffered damage to most areas, including the hospital pharmacy, where most drugs were lost. As the eye of Ike passed, staff, patients, and families members were relocated to unaffected parts of the hospital. Read the highlights to date of this hurricane season.

International Day Celebrated Worldwide, Focuses on
Safe Hospitals

This year’s International Day for Disaster Reduction (IDDR) falls on the third anniversary of the devastating 2005 earthquake in Pakistan. This and a host of disasters in recent years point clearly to the vulnerability of all health facilities.

IDDR will be marked the world over on October 8 by the United Nations, governments, organizations and the public. The focus will be on making hospitals and health facilities safe from disasters – the theme of the WHO/UNISDR World Disaster Reduction Campaign.

The global celebration will take place at the UN in New York and will feature a high-level panel with experts from China, India and the British Virgin Islands, discussing what their countries are doing to reduce risk and protect health facilities.

Learn what’s going on in other parts of the world to celebrate the IDDR.