David Nabarro IDRC 2012 Red Chair Statement
Disaster Metrics: A Proposed Quantitative Assessment Tool in Complex Humanitarian Emergencies – The Public Health Impact Severity Scale (PHISS)
Complex Humanitarian Emergencies (CHE) result in rapid degradation of population health and quickly overwhelm indigenous health resources. Numerous governmental, non-governmental, national and international organizations and agencies are involved in the assessment of post-CHE affected populations. To date, there is no entirely quantitative assessment tool conceptualized to measure the public health impact of CHE.
Atlas of health and climate
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) launched the Health and Climate Atlas yesterday. The Atlas features a section and case studies devoted to climate-related health emergencies.
Keynote at the 4th International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC Davos 2012 by Dr David Nabarro
TASW Newsletter: July 2012
Towards a Safer World is a multi-stakeholder network of practitioners, led by the UN System Influenza Coordination office and World Food Programme. Its purpose is to identify, disseminate and support implementation of lessons, good practices and innovations that emerged from the enormous amount of work undertaken by civil society, governments and the private sector over recent years to prepare for influenza pandemic – and to demonstrate the relevance of those practices to wider preparedness.
New Inter Agency Standing Committee Simulation Exercise Materials
Simulation exercises have gained increasing prominence in humanitarian preparedness over the past several years, particularly by the organisations comprising the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC). Simulations serve to test plans, rehearse procedures, identify gaps, solve problems, increase confidence and generally add to the overall capacity of organisations and individuals to react to emergencies in an effective, timely and reliable manner. In any life-saving profession--pilots, fire-fighters, para-medics—drills and practice are required to achieve the best results.
Collating examples of Institutions, Policies and Stakeholders involved in the Management of Zoonoses
The attached document, website and database are intended to advise the agenda of the new DFID Zoonoses in Emergent Livestock Systems programme (ZELS).
In the attached report, the chapter on "Management of zoonotic diseases emergencies" may be of particular interest to Towards a Safer World network members. It calls for emergency prevention, preparedness, response and recovery to align with - and be included into - the Hyogo Framework for Action and the ISDR agenda.
The chapter on ‘’System strengthening’’ calls for a multi-sector approach to risk management.
ISO publishes new standard for business continuity management
ISO has published an International Standard addressing business continuity management to contribute making organizations in both public and private sectors more resilient.
ISO 22301:2012, Societal security – Business continuity management systems – Requirements, will help organizations, regardless of their size, location or activity, to be better prepared and more confident to handle disruption of any type.
Pandemic Readiness and Response Exercise Southern Africa
From May 21 to May 24, WFP, in collaboration with AFRICOM and OCHA, conducted a Pandemic Readiness and Response Exercise in Johannesburg with representatives of 6 Southern African National Disaster Management Organisations with support from private sector, academia and military colleagues. The first day of the exercise was designated a 'Towards a Safer World' day, wherein regional experts presented, shared and debated best practices in disaster risk reduction for pandemics and comparable threats.