Unpredictable, unpreventable and impersonal medicine: global disaster response in the 21st century

Abstract The United Nations has recognized the devastating consequences of “unpredictable, unpreventable and impersonal” disasters—at least US $2 trillion in economic damage and more than 1.3 million lives lost from natural disasters in the last two decades alone. In many disasters (both natural and man-made) hundreds—and in major earthquakes, thousands—of lives are lost in the first days following the event because of the lack of medical/surgical facilities to treat those with potentially survivable injuries. Disasters disrupt and destroy not only medical facilities in the disaster zone but also infrastructure (roads, airports, electricity) and potentially local healthcare personnel as well. To minimize morbidity and mortality from disasters, medical treatment must begin immediately, within minutes ideally, but certainly within 24 h (not the days to weeks currently seen in medical response to disasters). This requires that all resources—medical equipment and support, and healthcare personnel—be portable and readily available; transport to the disaster site will usually require helicopters, as military medical response teams in developed countries have demonstrated. Some of the resources available and in development for immediate medical response for disasters—from portable CT scanners to telesurgical capabilities—are described. For immediate deployment, these resources—medical equipment and personnel—must be ready for deployment on ...
Source: EPMA Journal - Category: Global & Universal Source Type: research