Global launch of the world disaster reduction campaign 2008-2009: hospitals safe from disasters

The World Campaign on Disaster Reduction will be launched on 25 January 2008 in Davos, Switzerland as a side event to the World Economic Forum.

What the campaign will do
From 2008-2009, the secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) and the World Health Organization (WHO) 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.
 
A wide range of activities will be carried out together by the UN/ISDR secretariat, WHO and their respective regional offices within the framework of the Campaign. Other ISDR system partners will be involved, in particular the World Bank, UNDP, WMO, UNEP, UNESCO, UNICEF, FAO, ILO, WFP, IFRC and the various ISDR networks of NGOs, private sector, academic institutions, parliamentarians and local authorities. At the national level, the main responsibilities belong to the National Platforms for disaster risk reduction, which are focal points for the Hyogo Framework for Action and the Ministries of Health.
 
Objectives
The world disaster reduction campaign on hospitals safe from disasters aims to raise awareness and effect change that will:

- Protect the lives of patients and health workers by ensuring the structural resilience of health facilities

- Make sure health facilities and health services are able to function in the aftermath of emergencies and disasters, when they are most needed

- Improve the risk reduction capacity of health workers and institutions, including emergency management

Key messages of the campaign
1. The most expensive hospital is the one that fails:
Hospitals and health facilities represent an enormous investment for any country. Their destruction imposes major economic burdens.

2. Disasters are a health and a social issue:
Not only is health treatment critical in the aftermath of a disaster, damage to health facilities and systems affects development long into the future.

3. Protecting critical health facilities from disasters is possible and cost effective:
Including risk reduction in the design and construction of all new health facilities, and reducing vulnerability in existing health facilities through selecting and retrofitting the most critical facilities, costs less than you might expect.

4. The health workforce must be agents of disaster risk reduction:
Health workers are central to identifying potential health risks from natural hazards and promoting personal and community risk reduction measures.
 
10 Basic facts to know
1. Many factors put hospitals, health facilities, their workers, and the people they care for at risk, from the design of the building, to the ability of people to manage an emergency.

2. Components of a hospital or health facility are typically divided into: structural elements, i.e. the building, and non-structural elements, i.e. the contents, which can comprise around 80% or more of the total cost of the facility in the case of hospitals.

3. Functional collapse, not structural damage, is the usual reason for hospitals being put out of service during emergencies.

4. Hospitals and health facilities can be built to different levels of protection: in increasing order of cost and protection, life safety, investment protection, and operations protection.

5. Making new hospitals and health facilities safe from disasters is not costly: it has been estimated the incorporating mitigation measures into the design and construction of a new hospital will account for less than 4% of the total initial investment.

6. Field hospitals are not necessarily the best solution to compensate for the loss of a hospital or health facility during a natural disaster.
 
7. Using a check consultant is the best way to ensure that facilities are built according to the disaster resilient designs that have been approved.

8. Building codes are of utmost importance.

9. Creating safe hospitals is as much about having vision and commitment as it is about actual resources.

10. The most expensive hospital is the one that fails!