Reducing Disaster Exacerbated Non-communicable Diseases Through Public Health Infrastructure Resilience: Perspectives of Australian Disaster Service Providers

Conclusion Disaster service providers can play a vital role in reducing the risk of disaster exacerbated NCDs through PHI resilience. They are often employed in communities where disasters occur and the core elements of their work are directly linked to enhancing PHI resilience to maximize treatment and care at a local level. This combined with the wide range of disciplines demonstrates they can provide the leadership required to systematically expand the focus of disaster systems to include NCDs. Specific measures include: increasing the use of telemedicine; preplanning with medical suppliers; effective town planning; health professionals visiting evacuation centers; evacuation centers having power for medical equipment; hubs for treatment and care after a disaster; evacuation of high risk people prior to disaster; mapping people at risk by NCD; and a mechanism for sharing information between agencies. To sustainably implement the mitigation strategies they will need to become integrated into effective performance and monitoring of the disaster response and health sector during non-disaster periods. For this to occur, the strategies should be integrated into business and strategic plans. Achieving this will help implement the Sendia Framework and, most importantly, result in sustainable strategies that protect the health of people with NCDs before, during and after a disaster. Data Availability The raw data used for this analysis can be accessed via https://dx.doi.org/10.60...
Source: PLOS Currents Disasters - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Source Type: research