The theme for World Health Day this year is "Save lives. Make hospitals safe in emergencies". This theme underscores the importance of protecting health facilities to continue to be functional in times of emergencies and humanitarian crises.
Countries in the African Region of WHO are facing crises and natural disasters in increasing frequency, causing physical destruction of health facilities and functional disruption of their services. Between 1992 and 2004, two-thirds of major humanitarian crises worldwide occurred in Africa. In 2008 alone, more than 90% of the Member States in the Region were affected by emergencies involving natural disasters such as floods, droughts, disease outbreaks, and varying degrees of conflicts.
In recent years, the impact of emergencies on health facilities and their functioning in the African Region has been huge. For example, 30% of health facilities were destroyed in one country during a civil war.
Many existing health facilities were not built with safety and resilience in mind. They pose hazards to their occupants and can fail if an emergency occurs. The structure and emergency preparedness of health facilities are not assessed or are assessed in an ad hoc and inappropriate manner.
I would like to use this opportunity of the World Health Day to call upon all countries to take necessary measures to make health facilities safe during emergencies. The safety measures include resilient construction of facilities at safe sites. The design should help ensure the safety and uninterrupted supply of power, water, medicines, reagents and equipment as well as services for management of wastes, logistics, transport and communication.
Countries should develop legislation and implement programmes for "safe hospitals" as an important step towards protecting health facilities and providing health care during emergencies.
The revision of building policies for health facilities as well as physical planning of towns, cities and villages is an exercise that transcends the health sector. In the planning and construction of health facilities at urban and rural areas, ministries of health should involve not only architects but also town planners and environmental engineers in order to build health facilities in the right places and in physical forms that would enable them to withstand emergencies.
Health facilities should develop emergency preparedness and response plans and conduct mass casualty drills every year to test and refine the plan.
Training should be provided to enable staff to manage mass casualties, execute infection control measures in health facilities and cope efficiently with the additional demands resulting from emergencies.
Health facilities should not be targeted or used for military operations during conflicts. In the event of armed conflict, warring factions should ensure the safety and functionality of health facilities including the safety of health workers. Health facilities are expected to be safe havens for people during an emergency. The facilities and their staff must be regarded by all parties - particularly combatants during conflicts - as neutral and must not be subjected to any act of violence.
WHO is devoting World Health Day 2009 to starting a process that reaches beyond this one day. In this regard, WHO will be working jointly with international and national partners to assist countries in preparing their health facilities and staff for emergencies. The campaign that starts today will assist Member States to build resilience into their health systems so that hospitals, clinics and staff can withstand crises.
Protecting our health facilities to remain functional during emergencies will surely save lives.