(A68) 7 Options for Evolving the Concept of Disaster Health

Abstract

Introduction

The World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine (WADEM) has been the primary innovator and incubator for the concept of disaster health. This presentation puts forth 7 options for consideration for evolving the concept of disaster health.

Discussion

(1) Promote disaster health from an adjective to a noun phrase. Disaster health has been a modifier for too long, tucked into expressions such as disaster health management or disaster health education. It is time for disaster health to emerge in its own right. (2) Elevate disaster health from a discipline to an endpoint, a defined and desired outcome. (3) Liberate disaster health from the confines of medicine and health care. Disaster health originated there, but is much more expansive. One of the distinctions of disaster health is its multidisciplinary nature. (4) Fully integrate the mental health and psychological dimension of disaster health. WADEM has been at the forefront, championing psychosocial issues in disasters, yet to date, this dimension of disaster health has been underdeveloped and underappreciated. (5) Consider the parallels inherent in optimizing disaster health for both disaster responders and disaster survivors. Also consider using plain language to create a common set of strategies for achieving disaster health that is equally applicable for responders and survivors. (6) Consider disaster health applied at the community level in a manner that subsumes community health, resilience, and disaster resistance. (7) Give disaster health its own framework. Clear and comprehensive WADEM-driven frameworks now exist for disaster health education, for example. Disaster health needs a framework that is simple, supple, and explanatory.

Conclusion

WADEM has promulgated disaster health as a vital, pivotal concept. The 7 options presented here have come from our own engagement with this concept. They are, in fact, defining features of our SAFETY FUNCTION ACTION framework for disaster health.