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WPRO EHA reviews safe hospitals project 2-4 March 2011

9 March 2011 – The Emergency and Humanitarian Action (EHA) unit of the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific (WPRO), in partnership with the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU), conducted the midterm review of the second phase of the Hospitals Safe from Disasters (HSFD) campaign on 2-4 March 2011 in Manila.

The second phase of the project aims to expand mapping and assessment of different levels of hospitals in small and medium sized cities, integrate HSFD concepts in national development plans and policies, and support further development and adaptation of tools and resources. This will mainstream disaster risk reduction in the health sector within the framework of the global campaign for safer cities in 2010-2011.

More information on WPRO Safe hospitals project

HSFD Project documents

One Million Safe Schools and Hospitals Initiative

The 'One Million Safe Schools and Hospitals Initiative' was launched in Manila on 8 April 2010. The initiative with the slogan “Make a Pledge, Save a Life” encourages an individual, a family, community, organization, government, or business entity to pledge to make a school or hospital safer from disasters in three ways: as an advocate, leader or champion.

Read the the Advocacy Guide

One Million Safe Schools and Hospitals in Indonesia - July 2010

More information from the ISDR website

IRIN news: When hospitals become casualties

Making Our Hospitals Safe from Disasters is on Facebook

Sixty-third World Health Assembly

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Will health services function when most needed? Experiences from recent earthquakes

19 May 2010, Geneva, Switzerland

Kathmandu Declaration on Protecting Health Facilities from Disasters

Health Ministers from WHO's 11 Member States in South-East Asia have committed themselves to making health facilities more resilient by adopting the Kathmandu Declaration on Protecting Health Facilities from Disasters. This declaration was adopted at the conclusion of the Twenty-seventh Health Minister’s Meeting in Kathmandu in September 2009.

Read the declaration

Call for abstracts

Journal: International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment (IJDRBE)

Theme title: Sustaining Healthcare Facilities Performance during Natural Disasters

Background and Scope

Recent statistics suggest an increase in natural disasters around the world due to climate change and global warming. Although the annual number of fatalities has reduced since the start of the twentieth century, the number of affected people requiring immediate treatment has increased. The discontinuity of medical services in such events has encouraged the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) appeal to not let hospitals be victims of emergencies and it launched a global campaign, Hospitals Safe from Disasters. The Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction held in Geneva 16-19 June 2009 concluded by calling for a 50 percent reduction in disaster related deaths by 2015.