2008-2009 world disaster reduction campaign kit: hospitals safe from disasters

The theme of the the 2008-2009 World Disaster Reduction Campaign is Hospitals Safe from Disasters: Reduce Risk, Protect Health Facilities, Save Lives. During these two years the secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) and the World Health Organization (WHO), with some support from the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery of the World Bank, will partner with governments, international and regional organizations, non-governmental organizations and individuals worldwide, to raise awareness about why and how to redouble efforts to protect health facilities and ensure they can function during and in the aftermath of disasters.

This Campaign addresses Hospitals Safe from Disasters in line with the UN/ISDR secretariat mandated focus on natural hazards. It does not address broader issues of hospital or medical safety, such as patient and staff infections, reduction in medical errors or the capacity to deal with mass epidemics; all of which are important in their own right and contribute to the overall safety of hospitals, but which fall beyond the primary scope of the Campaign.

In this kit, one will find examples of what countries have done to reduce the vulnerability of their health facilities to disasters, either by applying lessons learned to build safer hospitals, identifying and correcting risks that threaten their ability to remain functional, or preparing and training the health workforce to act in emergency situations.