Prevention of Infectious Diseases in Natural Disasters

Abstract

Natural disasters extract a huge toll in terms of human life and economic cost. And as the actual calamitous events may cause immediate

and extensive devastation, these may also generate circumstances that promote the spread of infectious diseases, which further

aggravates the resulting distress. It is important, therefore, to limit the occurrence and spread of infectious diseases in times of disasters.

To effectively do so requires an understanding of the interplay of the nature and magnitude of the catastrophe, the prevailing conditions

at different periods of time after the disaster, and the primary characteristics of the affected population, among other factors.

The paper qualifies the circumstances that would most likely prevail following various disaster scenarios (i.e., floods, earthquake,

and drought). From the described situations, specific disease-predisposing conditions are identified. Based on these, appropriate sets of

interventions to better reduce the risks of infectious diseases are drawn.

An application of the prescribed approach in designing an infectious disease mitigation agenda for natural disasters is presented for

the Philippines. The key country recommendations are; the enhancement of community-level preparedness, the incorporation of disaster

and phase-specific contingency and other vital features into the operations of the main health response unit, and the improvement of

coordination with related agencies.