Guidelines for Vulnerability Reduction in the Design of New Health Facilities

Content:

It is almost always the case that, when struck by large-scale natural disasters, hospital services are interrupted temporarily or permanently, mainly due to damage to their infrastructure. The operational loss of these facilities can mean the partial or complete loss of significant capital investments. Far more importantly, such catastrophic events often leave a severe and lasting scar on the welfare and the socioeconomic development of the population and the country. In recent years, various PAHO/WHO member states have managed to reduce the vulnerability of their hospitals; several of them went on to withstand successfully the effects of subsequent disasters. Even countries with limited financial resources can serve their populations well by providingthem with hospitals and other health facilities that are resistant to earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural hazards. This handbook, produced in conjunction with the PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center forDisaster Mitigation in Health Facilities at the University of Chile, puts forward three potential levels of protection from adverse events. International experience has shown that applying the highest level of protection to the construction of a new hospital only adds about 4 percent to thetotal cost of the project.

Author:

Ruben Boroschek Krauskopf, Rodrigo Retamales Saavedra

Organisation:

Pan American Health Organisation / The World Bank

Details:

1.1MB, pdf

Language:

English