A webinar organized by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the World Health Organization (WHO)

7 April 2020
06:00 Pacific Time (US and Canada)
08:00 Panama
09:00 New York
14:00 London
15:00 Geneva
20:00 Bangkok
22:00 Korea

Register here

Speakers

• Dr. Peter Williams, IBM Distinguished Engineer, Retd.
• Dr. Benjamin Ryan, Clinical Associate Professor Baylor University in Waco, Texas, United States
• Commentator: Dr. Rajib Shaw, Professor Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Japan

“Preparation saves lives”. The capacity of public health systems is crucial to reduce the impact of pandemics, as clearly discussed in the practical experience from countries like P.R. China and the Republic of Korea. Experience from past epidemics and the current COVID-19 pandemic demonstrate how important it is to break down silos between disaster managers, health workers and other sectors. Ms. Mami Mizutori, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction and head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) urged national and local disaster management agencies to include health emergencies in the discussion on disasters, as a top priority, alongside earthquakes, floods, storms and other natural hazards. Governments must prioritize resilient health systems.

Promoting systematic integration of health into national and sub-national disaster risk reduction policies and plans is a key recommendation of the “Bangkok Principles for the implementation of the health aspects of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030”. The Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management Framework (HEDRM) of the World Health Organization is the overarching framework. The public health addendum of the Disaster Resilience Scorecard for Cities is a tool designed for use by local governments to enhance resilience, as guided by the HEDRM Framework.

Objective:

The webinar covers aspects of public health systems in the Making Cities Resilient Campaign tool – the Disaster Resilience Scorecard for Cities. The focus is on how the scorecard promotes a broad multi-sectoral approach to handling disaster risk reduction, including for public health emergencies.

For more information, please contact: Sanjaya Bhatia and Mutarika Pruksapong, UNDRR Global Education and Training Institute (GETI), [email protected]