Editorial
Good Information Is the Most Elusive Commodity in Large Disasters

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. (More)

Caribbean Health Sector Scores a Win for the Cricket World Cup

Much has been said about the gains and losses of the Caribbean countries that hosted the Cricket World Cup (CWC) in 2007. Attendance at the games was lower than expected, but there was no doubt that the health and security challenges posed by the mass gathering of people were serious ones. This was especially true given the limited experience of most countries in hosting events of this magnitude. (More)

Safety Index for Hospitals: A quick and practical way to assess health facilities

How can we tell whether a hospital is safe? What does “safe” really mean? What can we do when we know that it isn’t? For many years there have been more questions than answers about these issues. It has been difficult to agree on the indicators for baseline information and measure the progress that countries are making in this critical area. (More)

Safe Hospitals, A Global Strategy

In the framework of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction meeting, held in Geneva (see next page), WHO and PAHO organized a workshop on disaster risk reduction in health facilities and the health sector to call attention to the serious effects that emergencies, disasters and other crises have on health and the impact they have on development. (More)

Emergency Operations Center for the Caribbean

The Emergency Operations Center for the Caribbean (EOC-CAR) was established to provide reliable, timely, and authoritative information during the Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007. Located at the PAHO/WHO Office in Barbados, it served to give early warning and to forecast potential emergency situations that could require an organization-wide response. (More)

First Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction

The first session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction was convened by the U.N. Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs in June 2007 in Geneva. (More)

Andean Countries Expand Capacity for Managing Disaster Information

Strengthening the capacity to manage information is a major challenge in risk reduction. This is the objective of a project to create information centers for disaster prevention and response sponsored by CRID, PAHO/WHO, and the ISDR as part of the broader Andean initiative on disaster prevention (PREDECAN) (More)

OCHA Launches a New Spanish-language Website for Humanitarian Information

Redhum is a virtual tool that provides easy access through the Internet to updated humanitarian information from the Latin American region, allowing for better disaster preparation and response. (More)

ISDR Presents PreventionWeb

The ISDR Secretariat, in its support of the Hyogo Framework for Action, is developing an information portal for disaster risk reduction (DDR) called PreventionWeb. Its primary purpose is to facilitte the work of professionals involved in disster risk reduction and facilitate an understanding of the subject by non-specialists. (More)

El Salvador Stages Its First “Bird Flu” Simulation

Following the examples of Mexico and Argentina, the health authorities in El Salvador carried out the country’s first simulation exercise for an avian influenza pandemic. The aim of the exercise was to assess the response capacity of health workers at the local level and of the Ministry of Health local, departmental, and national rapid response health teams. (More)

Nevado Del Huila Volcano Erupts in Colombia

On 19 Febuary, after more than 200 years of inactivity, the Nevado del Huila volcano erupted; this was followed by a more intense eruption on 17 April. The volcano is in southwestern Colombia, forming part of the Andean mountain range. Both eruptions caused major mudslides, and debris was scattered along the Paez River. (More)

Floods in Bolivia

Events related to the El Niño phenomenon caused widespread suffering in Bolivia in January through March 2007. Major flooding, freezing weather, and hail affected the departments of Beni, Santa Cruz, La Paz, Chuquisaca, Tarija, Potosí, and Cochabamba. Severe rains and river flooding damaged housing, closed roads, and destroyed crops. The Civil Defense reported (as of June 2007) 50 deaths, 103,595 families affected, and damage to crops on more than 366 thousand hectares. Thousands of people have been displaced to temporary shelters; not all shelters are in conditions to support these numbers. (More)

Andean Ministers of Health Reaffirm Their Commitment to Disaster Reduction

During their twenty-eighth meeting, held in March in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, the Ministers of Health of the Andean Region reaffirmed their commitment to the Andean health sector disaster plan. They agreed to expand support for health sector emergency and disaster operations committees in each of their ministries. (More)

New Spanish-language Training Material on Local Health, Water, and Sanitation Management

New materials produced by PAHO/WHO are part of a project to strengthen local health services during disasters in the Andean region. The disaster preparedness program of the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Department is supporting production of these materials as part of the fourth phase of the DIPECHO (Disaster Preparedness ECHO) action plan. (More)

PAHO’s New Video on Safe Hospitals

PAHO has produced a new video, in DVD format, to promote the concept and strategy of Safe Hospitals. It makes it clear that this issue is of universal concern, extending beyond the health sector. The video explains what a safe hospital is and why we must safeguard these critical facilities. It highlights examples of best practices in the Region, destroying the myth that it would be too expensive or even impossible to build hospitals with safeguards to ensure they continue to function after disasters. (More)

CRID

The Regional Disaster Information Center (CRID)’s mission is to promote the development of a culture of prevention in Latin American and Caribbean countries through the compilation and dissemination of disaster-related information and the promotion of cooperative efforts to improve risk management in the Region. (More)