World Health Day 2009
During the earthquake in Central Italy on Monday more than 1.000 persons were injured. Rescue teams were immediately alerted, said interior minister Roberto Maroni. “Within quarter of an hour they were on their way.” Helping the victims, though is difficult because many hospitals are affected by the strong earthquake. In view of this natural disaster, the motto of this year's World Health day “Save lives. Make hospitals safe in emergencies”, could not be more appropriate.
With its keynote World Health Day 2009 focuses attention on the large numbers of lives that can be saved during earthquakes, floods, conflicts and other emergencies through better design and construction of health facilities and by preparing and training health staff. Health centres and staff are critical lifelines for vulnerable people in disasters - treating injuries, preventing illnesses and caring for people's health needs.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and international partners are underscoring the importance of investing in health infrastructure that can withstand hazards and serve people in immediate need. They are also urging health facilities to implement systems to respond to internal emergencies, such as fires, and ensure the continuity of care.
WHO is recommending six core actions that governments, public health authorities and hospital managers can undertake to make their health facilities safe during emergencies. These include training health workers, designing and building safe hospitals, retrofitting existing health facilities to make them more resilient and ensuring staff and supplies are secure.
“With our world threatened by the harmful effects of climate change, more frequent extreme weather events and armed conflicts, it is crucial that we all do more to ensure that health care is available at all times to our citizens, before, during, or after a disaster,” said WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan.
The six steps that governments, public health authorities and others who operate hospitals and health care facilities can take are to:
• assess the safety of hospitals;
• protect and train health workers for emergencies;
• plan for emergency response;
• design and build resilient hospitals;
• adopt national policies and programmes for safe hospitals; and
• protect equipment, medicines and supplies.
Too often, health facilities are the first casualties of emergencies. This means that health workers are killed and wounded, that services are not available to treat survivors and that large investments of valuable health funding in health facility construction and equipment are squandered.
WHO is urging all ministries of health to review the safety of existing health facilities and to ensure that any new facilities are built with safety in mind. Practical and effective low-cost measures such as protecting equipment, developing emergency preparedness plans and training staff can help make health facilities safer, better prepared and more functional in emergencies.
Dr Eric Laroche, WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Action in Crises, said untold lives can be saved if health systems were better protected from emergencies. "The most expensive health facility is the one that fails, both in human and financial terms," Dr Laroche said. "We know we can do more to prevent our hospitals and clinics falling victim to emergencies. The time has come for action."
07.04.2009
