UNDRR GETI Online Workshop on “Resilience of local governments: A multi-sectoral approach to integrate public health and disaster risk management”

Event Background and Introduction

“Preparation saves lives”. The capacity of public health systems is crucial to reduce the impact of pandemics. Experience from past epidemics and the current COVID-19 pandemic demonstrate how important it is to break down silos between disaster managers, health workers and other sectors. Ms. Mami Mizutori, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction and head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) urged national and local disaster management agencies to include health emergencies in the discussion on disasters, as a top priority, alongside earthquakes, floods, storms and other natural hazards. Governments must prioritize resilient health systems.

Promoting systematic integration of health into national and sub-national disaster risk reduction policies and plans is a key recommendation of the “Bangkok Principles for the implementation of the health aspects of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030”. The Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management Framework (Health EDRM) of the World Health Organization is the overarching framework.

While the frameworks are global, actions are taken at the local level. The Making Cities Resilient (MCR) Campaign has been supporting local governments since 2010 to better understand disaster risk. The Campaign unpacks the concept of ‘Disaster Risk Reduction’ into the ’10 Essentials for Making Cities Resilient,’ the basic fundamental elements that local governments must pursue to build and maintain resilience. It is accompanied by the Disaster Resilience Scorecard for Cities (The Scorecard), a tool allowing local governments to assess their disaster resilience.

The Public Health System Resilience Addendum (Public Health Scorecard Addendum) supplements the Scorecard aiming to strengthen and integrate coverages of the many aspects of public health issues that are relevant to disaster planning, mitigation and response. It is guided by the Health EDRM Framework with the ultimate aim to ensure local government resilience planning integrates health aspects in disaster risk management.

Objectives:

• To introduce disaster risk reduction and the translation of relevant global frameworks to the local level implementation
• To introduce the Public Health Scorecard Addendum, a tool to facilitate multi-sectoral approach to integrating public health issues in disaster risk reduction/resilience planning at the local level
• To practice using Public Health Scorecard Addendum to assess the gaps in local resilience planning, focusing particularly on the public health systems related issues.

Expected Outcomes:

Trained trainers equiped with knowledge and skills to apply the Public Health Scorecard Addendum and facilitate the integration of public health in disaster risk reduction strategic planning at the local level.

Targeted Audience:

15-20 participants from local authorities and relevant stakeholders including national government agencies, academic and training institutions, CSOs, UN Agencies, or urban resilience practitioners.

Facilitators:

• Peter Williams, Ph.D., IBM Distinguished Engineer, Retd.
• Benjamin Ryan, Ph.D., Clinical Associate Professor at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, United States
• Sanjaya Bhatia, Head of Office for Northeast Asia (ONEA) and GETI, UNDRR
• Mutarika Pruksapong, Ph.D., Programme Officer, UNDRR GETI

For more information, please contact:

Mutarika (Mai) Pruksapong, Ph.D.

Programme Officer

Global Education and Training Institute (GETI)

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)

Incheon, Republic of Korea

mutarika.pruksapong@un.org