New project to strengthen disaster preparedness in Central America,
the Dominican Republic and Haiti

With the financial support of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation, PAHO will be working with the Ministries of Health of El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Haiti to improve the response capacity of the health sector. The project has three main components: the formation of national response teams in each country with trained personnel who have the capacity to deal with different health issues which occur in response to disasters and emergencies; the establishment or improvement of health sector emergency operations centres and strengthening of technical capacity for the management of information, communications, logistics and decision-making for disaster response. At the close of the project it is hoped that the national teams in Central America, Haiti and the Dominican Republic will have a holistic and multi-disciplinary perspective with specialists trained in areas such as damage assessment, epidemiology, mental health, health services, water and sanitation, administration, logistics and communication.

Furthermore, they should be able to provide technical recommendations for the most critical aspects of emergency situations, shelter management, control of illnesses, epidemiological surveillance, food, nutrition, management of dead bodies, safe water, environmental sanitation and communication. For more information, write to santanda@pan.ops-oms.org

PAHO/WHO renews its commitment in disaster reduction

PAHO/WHO presented its strategic plan for disasters 2008-2012 which sets the priorities to achieve risk reduction and mitigation of the impact of disasters on health and the welfare of the population. The plan, prepared by the Area of Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief of the Organization, includes six strategic objectives: improvement of the capacity of the health sector in disaster preparedness, the protection of health services, assistance to countries in health response, the creation of stronger relations with regional, national and global partners, the incorporation of risk reduction in health as a main theme in the programmes of all institutional partners and changes of usual attitudes and behaviours during an emergency.

The plan represents a renewed level of commitment on the part of PAHO/WHO in disaster risk reduction, which is also demonstrated by the recent decision adopted by the WHO General Assembly aiming to include disaster preparedness as one of the 16 strategic objectives of the organization, and with the decision to raise the Department for Health Action in Crisis to one of the highest administrative levels in the Organization. The Strategic Plan can be consulted at the following address: http://www.paho.org/disasters and click on “Must Read”.