October 2008, No. 110
For decades, there have been endless discussions, debates, publications as well as political stances on climate change. For almost as long, the topic was surrounded with controversy caused by insufficient scientific evidence, conflicts of interest or the syndrome of the ostrich burying its head in the sand.
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March 2008, No. 109
Response to outbreaks of communicable diseases is often undertaken with the collaboration of disaster preparedness and response programs in the ministries of health. Due to the threat of emerging diseases and the deliberate release of hazardous agents, the international health regulations have been revised. This edition's editorial addresses the implications of these revisions for national health disaster programs.
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October 2007, No. 108
For decades, the health sector has struggled with the recurring disruption of medical services caused by damage to hospitals in the aftermath of natural disasters. Just when these services are most needed, they are either unavailable or must be provided in makeshift quarters because a health facility cannot function. In the worst case scenario, collapsed health facilities have claimed the lives of patients and health staff, as was the case with Juarez Hospital in Mexico during the earthquake of 1985.
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June 2007, No. 107
Medical treatment and public health interventions are generally based on evidence. Methods and procedures are critically reviewed, often with control groups; side effects or errors are tracked and corrected; finally, original results are published with peer review to ensure scientific quality. The benefit of this process is that errors and long-held misconceptions are discarded, allowing medical and public health strategies to evolve. In the aftermath of sudden onset disasters, the laws governing information management seem to be changing.
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February 2007, No. 106
Assessments are an important first step to determining immediate humanitarian needs. How governments manage these assessments and coordinate with other agencies that are conducting their own evaluations have an impact on the end result as well as the level and quality of humanitarian assistance received.
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October 2006, No. 105
There are a variety of reasons to carry out post-disaster assessments: determining the immediate, short-term emergency needs of the survivors (the topic of this editorial); inventorying damage to housing, hospitals and other public or private infrastructure; or assessing the economic impact by putting a dollar figure on the direct and indirect losses attributable to the disaster.
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August 2006, No. 104
This editorial continues the discussion on the UN Cluster Leadership Approach that began in the April issue of this Newsletter.* With the trend toward the “internationalization” of disaster response becoming more commonplace, what can Latin American and Caribbean countries expect when the next major emergency strikes? The UN cluster approach, part of a wider UN reform process, aims to improve the effectiveness of humanitarian response.  The degree to which this occurs will depend on a number of factors
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April 2006, No. 103
Coordinating external assistance following large-scale disasters is the responsibility of the government of an affected country. In an ideal world, the national disaster management authority (the Civil Protection system, the national emergency commission or some other institution) or a Ministry (Foreign Affairs or Health, for example) would be well prepared to take charge of major disasters that result in a massive influx of assistance from outside. But in the real world, are they in charge?
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January 2006, No. 102
Prevention of and preparedness for a potential influenza pandemic requires collaboration among several sectors - health, agriculture, government, international organizations, universities and research centers. A cooperative approach is not only good policy, but good for public health in general.
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October 2005, No. 101
Managing information is a critical feature of humanitarian work, and agencies working in the field of risk reduction are convinced that the better an organization is able to compile, analyze and disseminate critical information using effective information systems, the more efficient the humanitarian response will be and consequently, the greater the number of lives saved.
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August 2005, No. 100
This is our 100th issue. We have focused on making networks chronicling progress in disaster preparedness and mitigation in the Americas…and beyond.
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April 2005, No. 99
Why is it that hospitals are still being built without the necessary safeguards to ensure that they can function after a disaster, even though the necessary knowledge exists and is readily available, even though many countries have expressed the requisite political will to protect these critical facilities (but have not, necessarily, translated this will into action) and cost is not really the limiting factor?
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January 2005, No. 98
It was South Asia’s worst natural disaster in memory—the earthquake and tidal wave that claimed more than 250,000 lives in a dozen countries last December. But as the death toll climbed in the days following the disaster, media reports warned that a second calamity was in the making: dangerous disease outbreaks caused by the legions of rotting bodies.
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October 2004, No. 97
In the last several years, many disaster management e-learning initiatives have been trumpeted as the alternative to costly international courses directed to an elite. Donors, eager to ride the “dotcom” wave, generously funded these projects. Today, most have quietly faded away. A few e-courses are struggling to find paying students to meet their costs, but residential courses, a breed thought to be marked for extinction with the advent of e-learning, are more numerous than ever! PAHO is still looking whether or not e-learning has real value added for the disaster management community, but our limited experience has taught us a few things.
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July 2004, No. 96
Thousands of lives were lost in the January 2001 earthquake in Gujarat, India; close to 200,000 injured persons required medical care. In Bam, Iran last December, another devastating earthquake killed 26,271 people and seriously injured thousands. In both of these locations, health infrastructure was virtually destroyed or knocked out of commission.
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April 2004, No. 95
The response to complex emergencies is not the same as the response to natural disasters. Just as each situation is unique, each type of agency —humanitarian and development— has a specialized service to offer. What (and who) works best in one situation is not necessarily the same in another.
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January 2004, No. 94
This issue's editorial deals with the earthquake in Bam, Iran (Dec. 2003) and the use of field hospitals after the disaster. There is also a report on an important course on e-learning. An 8-page supplement on disaster mitigation in hospitals is also included.
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October 2003, No. 93
The October 2003 issue of the Newsletter "Disasters: Preparedness and Mitigation in the Americas" can now be read in HTML and PDF formats. This month's editorial deals with the management of dead bodies after disasters. It also includes a supplement on water and disasters.
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July 2003, No. 92
Local Emergency Health Plans is the topic of the editorial of this issue of the newsletter. Aside from the regular sections, this issue includes a supplement on the Regional Disaster Information Center (CRID).
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Previous issues of the newsletter can be consulted in PDF format here.