9th Dealing with Disasters Conference:

A New Agenda for a New Era

Introduction/Setting the scene

Jonathan AbrahamsEmergency Risk Management and Humanitarian Response DepartmentWHO

abrahamsj@who.intPhone: +41 22 791 4366

Basic outline

1. Health imperative for DRR2. Successes and barriers to health3. Strategy for strengthening health in

the Sendai Framework4. Emergency and Disaster Risk

Management for Health 5. WHO Commitments/Actions6. Future collective actions7. How can we help health?

Health Imperative for Emergency and Disaster Risk Management (EDRM)

• Disasters from natural and technological hazards• >100,000 killed/year • Approximately 200 million affected/year – (including sick, injured)• 172 million affected by conflict

• Plus epidemics and other biological hazards

• Other health issues• Mental health • Disability• Damage to health facilities; disrupted services• Health and vulnerability

• Poor health affects education, livelihoods, development

Key Success Factors for EDRM-H

• Sustained investment in long-term programmes with committed champions

▫stable EDRM-H unit in MoH – all hazards

▫ full-time professional staff and defined budget.

• Health well-coordinated and respected by multisectoral actors

• Window of opportunity after major emergencies and disasters

• Leveraging resources for one hazard to build all-hazards systems

• WHO support to countries for stronger preparedness - (Latin America & Caribbean, Bangladesh, Iran, Nepal, Philippines, Viet Nam, Morocco)

Barriers to promoting health in DRR/DRM

• People’s health not explicit primary purpose of DRM

• Reference to “social” outcomes and saving lives - BUT injury, illness, disability, continuity of services missing

• Health as a sector - not an outcome and human right, BUT all other sectors contribute to health.

• Epidemics/pandemics cause emergencies/disasters, not usually in DRR.

• Response & recovery role in DRR and better outcomes missed

• Health voices absent from multisectoral forums on EDRM

• Only 3 references to health in the Hyogo Framework!

5 key messages to strengthen health in the 2015 framework for DRR (Sendai)

ISSUE RESULT

Make people’s health and well-being an explicit outcome

+++

Targets and indicators for DRR focus on health

+++

An all-hazards approach including biological hazards

++

Strengthen action and investment in health/other sectors

++

Safe Hospitals Initiative as a global priority for action

+++

Other key messages to strengthen (health in) DRRISSUE RESULT

Principles – multisectoral, multidisciplinary, people-centred, based on ethical norms etc

++

Attention to emerging/neglected issues for DRR (and groups)

++

Local events , small scale emergencies & large-scale disasters

++

Promoting Science and Research +++

Risk management preferable to DRR ++

Focus on Community Priorities – education, health, responsive government

++

Integrating EDRM and Health - countries

•National emergency preparedness (or DRM) plans: • 130 WHO Member States

•Safer Hospital Programmes• 80 MS taking action on Safer Hospitals• 4,000 hospitals assessed• Structural , non-structural , hospital

preparedness

• International Health Regulations (2005) • > 60 have established the necessary core capacities

• Active in global and regional platforms – thematic platform for EDRMH (est 2009); WCDRR

Emergency & Disaster Risk Management for Health – changing the paradigm?From To

Event-based Risk-based

Reactive Proactive

Single-hazard All-hazard

Hazard-focus Vulnerability and capacity - focus

Single agency Whole-of-society/multisectoral

Separate responsibility Shared responsibility of health systems

Response-focus Risk management

Planning for communities Planning with communities

World Congress for Disaster & Emergency Medicine

9 Essential Capacities of EDRM-H1. Policies, legislation and strategies

2. Planning and coordination

3. Human resources

4. Financing

5. Information and communications

6. Monitoring and evaluation

7. Health infrastructure and logistics

8. Health and related services

9. Community capacities for EDRM-H

WHO commitments/actions for EDRM-H

Communicate Sendai Framework; global implementation plan for health

EDRM-H Policy to be signed off with guidance developed

Technical assistance to Member States:• risk and capacity assessments• strengthening capacities for the International

Health Regulations (2005) & surveillance • emergency preparedness

Safe Hospitals Initiative / Smart Hospitals

WHO-WMO Climate and Health Office

Strengthening capacities in recovery

World Congress for Disaster & Emergency Medicine

Sendai Framework: Going forward for health?

• Health in all multisectoral DRM policies, plans, programmes

• monitoring and reporting of Sendai FDRR

• Health sector

• Awareness and communication on the Sendai Framework

• Apply Sendai FDRR & scale up capacity development for EDRMH

• Health policies and programmes include EDRMH

• Mobilise resources at local, national, regional, global levels

• Strengthen the thematic platform on EDRM-H

Sendai Framework: Going forward for health?

• How will the Sendai Framework and EDRM-H protect people’s health?

• How can you contribute to better health outcomes through emergency and disaster risk management for health?

• What would you like to see from WHO? And the UN system?

• How can we help each other?

More information at:http://www.who.int/hac/techguidance/preparedness/en/

Jonathan Abrahams

WHO HQ

abrahamsj@who.int

Ph: +41 22 7914366

Further information