Issue 123 March 2017
The EMT initiative moves forward in the Americas
This issue
Upcoming Events Issue 123 - March 2017
Meetings to take place in the next months.
The US National Library of Medicine trains librarians in health information during disasters
The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) is providing training and support for librarians to prepare them for providing health information in response to disasters. Through the NLM Disaster...
Ecuador: The Ecuadorean health sector: lessons learned post-earthquake
The regional meeting “Learning from the Ecuadorean Earthquake: Towards Risk Reduction in the Health Sector” was held from 24 to 25 October in Quito, Ecuador. Its goal was to strengthen...
Colombia: SIMEX 2016 confirms the relevance of EMT standards and tools
After five months of preparation, the SIMEX 2016 earthquake simulation exercises were held in Bogotá from 26 to 30 September, with the participation of 779 delegates and representatives from 25...
Nicaragua and Costa Rica: Hurricane Otto: Early mobilization strengthened health services’ response capacity in Nicaragua and Costa Rica
From 16 to 22 November 2016, a severe weather system developed into Hurricane Otto, and affected communities in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. In Costa Rica, 461 communities nationwide reported damages...
Bolivia: “Taking Care of Our Water”: An initiative in Bolivia to cope with the national drought emergency
On 21 November 2016, the government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia declared a National Drought and Water Shortage Emergency. PAHO/WHO, together with the Ministry of Health, activated support mechanisms...
Barbados: The Caribbean improves contingency plans in Smart Hospitals
Ensuring that each facility participating in the Smart Hospitals initiative develops and maintains a comprehensive contingency plan: this was the goal of a series of workshops held in Saint Vincent...
Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas
The Fifth Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas was held in Montreal, Canada, from 7-9 March 2017. Delegates from across the Americas met to discuss efforts for...
The EMT initiative moves forward in the Americas
The Americas rank second globally in terms of natural disasters, after Asia. Between 2007 and 2016, 20.6% of the world’s disasters occurred in the Region of the Americas, causing 255,033...
Hurricane Matthew, an overview of comprehensive action during and after the emergency
Hurricane Matthew tested readiness levels of Caribbean countries’ health services and their staff, as well as the technical capacity of PAHO/WHO for mobilization and response.