Western Pacific nations urged to invest in health sector recovery programs: Region accounts for 21% of natural disasters annually

MANILA, Philippines - The World Health Organization (WHO) is urging the Philippines and other countries in the Western Pacific to invest strategically in sustainable health sector recovery programs from major disasters.

In a statement, the WHO said that based on 2007-2011 data, the region accounts for 21 percent of the natural disasters that occur annually and 43 percent of the corresponding economic losses.

“Health sector recovery from a disaster should go beyond reconstruction and rehabilitation. It should maximize the opportunity to build back better health systems as a critical component of social services,” WHO said.

According to Dr. Shin Young-soo, WHO regional director for Western Pacific, “the recovery agenda of the health sector should take into account the damages and losses generated by the disaster to our health system, while at the same time, addressing major gaps and challenges that existed prior to the disaster.”

“I urge all countries to enhance recovery efforts and provide appropriate resources to rebuild better and safer health systems for our people,” he added.

To identify key strategic directions toward health sector recovery, some 70 “health emergency and disaster managers” from several countries in the Western Pacific are presently meeting in Iwate, Japan for the International Conference on Health Sector Recovery from Disasters.

The conference was organized by WHO, along with the Iwate Medical University and Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, to allow countries to share their experiences and lessons from disasters.

Recent experiences in the region, particularly the earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand in 2011 and in Wenchuan, China in 2008 were proofs that major disaster can overwhelm even “well-prepared, experienced and wealth nations,” WHO said.

Dr. Akira Ogawa, president and chief executive officer of Iwate Medical University, said the “2011 Great East Japan earthquake provided us with experiences and lessons that would be critical in strengthening our capacities to mitigate the impact of natural hazards and to drive complex health sector recovery processes.

“In addition, we definitely reconfirmed that the urgent response to a disaster in the very early phase would absolutely be a key to saving many more lives in the affected areas… We hope to share our stories, and learn from the experiences of our neighbors,” Ogawa added.

Shin has underscored the need to shift “from an emergency management to an emergency risk management approach for health emergencies.”

“This requires strong government leadership and commitment, sustainable human and financial investment, multi-sectoral coordination and collaboration, and effective partnerships between governmental bodies and development and humanitarian partners,” he said.

Shin added: “Most importantly, it requires work in normal times to identify and address the vulnerabilities of populations at risk and improve the local capacities of health systems and of communities.”