A global review of disaster reduction initiatives - Welcome to the ...

World Health Organization (WHO)WHO is the United Nations specializedagency with responsibility for health. WHO isa decentralized organization with about 150country offices worldwide and six regionaloffices in Africa, the Americas, the EasternMediterranean region, Europe, South-EastAsia and the Western Pacific. Its headquartersare based in Geneva, Switzerland. The purposeof WHO presence at country level is to assistmember States to achieve sustainable nationalhealth policy goals and to draw on the experienceof individual countries to build publichealth knowledge that benefits the rest of theworld. WHO has been a member of the ISDRTask Force for Disaster Reduction since 2002.WHO works at country, regional and globallevels for disaster mitigation, emergencypreparedness and response, as well as for advocacyfor health and humanitarian action. Failureon the part of the health sector to be institutionallyprepared is particularly costly, notonly in terms of lives lost, but also technicallyand politically. WHO aims to achieve a reductionof avoidable death and illness that resultfrom any type of natural or man-made disasterand to ensure that member States and theinternational community are equipped toprevent disasters and mitigate their healthconsequences, in synergy between relief andsustainable development. WHO applies theepidemiological method and the public healthmodel to emergency management and disasterreduction. Risk reduction, preparedness andresponse against epidemics are responsibilitiesof WHO.More specifically, WHO focuses on strengtheninghealth systems for preparedness andresponse against all types of disaster. Trainingis provided to Ministries of Health and theirstaff in preparedness and response, as well asfor the development of emergency contingencyplans. WHO distributes guidelines, publicationsand audio-visual material on applyingbest public health practices in preparing forand assessing the impact of disasters. TheWHO early health assessment and healthintelligence web site provides situational informationincluding baseline statistics, health situationreports and epidemiological surveillancedata.Related international commitments and the UN role in disaster risk reductionThe health sector does not exist in isolation andmust cooperate with other groups involved inthe overall framework for emergencypreparedness and establish priorities in accordancewith the overall disaster response plan.WHO has several collaborating centresaround the world, whose work is related todisaster reduction, including the Centre forResearch on the Epidemiology of Disasters(CRED), School of Public Health at theUniversity of Louvain in Brussels. In LatinAmerica and the Caribbean, there is the Schoolof Public Health at the University of Antioquia,Colombia, for higher education in disastermanagement issues and the Faculty ofEngineering of the University of Chile fordisaster mitigation in hospitals and health services.WHOGeneva, SwitzerlandTel: (+41-22) 791 2750Fax: (+41-22) 791 4844E-mail: lorettia@who.intWeb site: www.who.int/disastersThe WHO Regional Office for the Americas,the Pan-American Health Organization(PAHO), is the most active WHO office inthe area of disaster reduction. PAHO is alsopart of the inter-American system and theoffice has been active in reducing the impact ofnatural and other related environmental andtechnological disasters in the Americas and theCaribbean since the mid-seventies. PAHOwas a close collaborator and contributor toIDNDR in Latin America and the Caribbean.The PAHO disaster preparedness programmehas three subregional offices (Barbados, CostaRica and Quito). PAHO contributes to institutionalstrengthening by supporting thecreation and enhancement of disasterprogrammes in the Ministries of Health in allcountries of the region and promotes coordinationwith other sectors involved in disasterreduction. It organizes workshops on allaspects of disaster management for the benefitof professionals dealing with disaster reduction.In addition, PAHO encourages universitiesthroughout the region to incorporatedisaster management in their formal curriculum.The preparation and distribution of trainingmaterials have been a cornerstone of theprogramme. Over the last two decades this6315