Strengthening Health Systems for Disasters
THE CHALLENGE
There is clear science that disasters compromise health system functionality and drive negative mental and physical health outcomes. Less understood are the specific strategies for supporting health systems against novel and emerging risks: pandemics, cyberattacks, cascading disasters, displacement, and health systems operating in fragile and conflict-affected settings.
This work focuses on understanding how disasters impact health and health systems, and on developing valid, reliable, and useful tools for health systems to prepare for and respond to crisis.
THE APPROACH
- Epidemiological analysis of hurricane exposure and infant mortality across low- and middle-income countries
- Surveys and interviews with climate migrants displaced by Hurricane Maria
- Case studies of health system capacity in climate migrant-receiving communities across three cities
- Analysis of incident management performance in partnership with 30+ public health agencies during real-life emergencies
- Review of health system responses to cascading disasters, including COVID-19 and the 2021 Texas blackouts
- Research on mental health impacts of crisis migration on children, adolescents, and families and of elderly loneliness during COVID-19
THE OUTCOME
Empirical evidence on how disasters affect population health outcomes alongside practical tools and strategies for health systems to prepare for and respond to crisis. Outputs include a nationally deployed public health incident management toolkit, peer-reviewed research in Nature, Science Advances, and The Lancet, and policy-relevant guidance for health systems facing displacement, cascading disasters, and fragile settings.
Further reading
Global Population Profile of Tropical Cyclone Exposure, 2000-2019 Nature
The Impact of Tropical Cyclone Exposure on Infant Mortality in Low- and Middle-Income Countries Science Advances
Think global, act local: using a 'trans-local' approach to understand community-based organisations' responses to planetary health crises during COVID-19 Lancet Planetary Health
Climate Change-Related Mass Migration Requires Health System Resilience Environmental Research: Health
Capacities of Health Systems in Climate Migrant Receiving Communities Urban Institute
The Family Crisis Migration Stress Model New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development
Disaster risk creation and cascading disasters within large technological systems: COVID-19 and the 2021 Texas blackouts Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management
Incorporating issues of elderly loneliness into the COVID-19 public health response Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness
The Incident Management Measurement Toolkit RAND Corporation
Measuring trauma: a preliminary analysis of the hurricane-related traumatic experiences questionnaire Climate and Development