Safe hospitals: a collective responsibility: a global measure of disaster reduction

Disasters such as the earthquakes in Turkey (1999), Gujarat, India (2001) and Bam, Iran (2003) or the cyclones in Grenada, Haiti and the Philippines (2004) call to mind images of a large number of injured victims awaiting medical treatment and makeshift facilities operating under war-like conditions on the grounds of a severely damaged hospital. However, the medical impact of a damaged health facility runs far deeper. Health services facing the challenge of resuming treatment of normal medical emergencies and providing routine care must, at the same time, offer follow-up care to the disaster victims. As the issue of mass casualties fades from the international conscience (sometimes in a matter of days) and the initial groundswell of support ebbs, an even greater segment of the population will be affected, just when the country needs all its strength to recover.
Protecting critical health facilities, particularly hospitals, from the avoidable consequences of disasters, is not only essential to meeting the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations, but also a social and political necessity in its own right. This is the message that this publication, prepared by PAHO-WHO for the UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction, puts forth. The importance of hospitals goes far beyond the role they play in saving lives after disasters. They are powerful symbols of social progress and a prerequisite for economic development, and as such, special attention must be given to reducing their physical vulnerability.