Question

how might the public health professional approach policy analysis even prior to developing policy to prevent a public health disaster from happening in the future.

Answer 1

A health crisis or public health crisis is a difficult situation or complex health system that affects humans in one or more geographic areas (mainly occurred in natural hazards), from a particular locality to encompass the entire planet. Emergencies and disasters impact population health, as we face diverse hazards influenced by complexities in our environment, demographics and social constructs. Novel and re-emerging infectious diseases continue to cause morbidity and mortality and can rapidly spread beyond borders.

Reducing risks and the short and long-term impacts of all-hazards emergencies on population health is a key responsibility for the public health sector. Public health plays a critical role in working with health and non-health sectors responsible for preparing for and responding to emergencies, yet have limited resources and competing priorities in delivering community health protection and promotion programs. While emergencies tend to raise awareness about the significance of being prepared, public health agency readiness activities operate largely in the background until an event occurs. Despite the importance of upstream readiness, a persistent challenge for public health practitioners is defining what it means to be prepared. Defining preparedness using an evidence-informed approach is challenging, due to the general lack of evidence to inform disaster risk reduction (DRR) for public health. There are few published frameworks for public health emergency preparedness (PHEP) or DRR which used empirical methods in derivation. The World Health Organization (WHO) framework to inform emergency preparedness is based on consultation with global stakeholders and lessons learned. The framework is designed to be relevant to health systems globally and emphasizes national, subnational and local connections. The United Nations Sendai Framework for DRR has four key priorities and takes a whole-of-society approach. It expands on its predecessor, the Hyogo Framework, with specific reference to the health impacts of disasters and reducing risks. These frameworks highlight the importance of national action and global collaboration to improve health system preparedness and reduce disaster risks; however, empirically-derived and contextually-relevant evidence to inform public health actions for local/regional public health agencies remains a knowledge gap.

Educate, engage and mobilize the public so people can be full and active participants in public health emergency preparedness. Epidemiology functions. Maintain and improve the systems to monitor, detect and investigate potential hazards, particularly those that are environmental, radiological, toxic or infectious. However, preparedness is only one phase of emergency management. Current thinking defines four phases of emergency management: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. There are entire courses on each of these phases. The following diagram illustrates the four phases of emergency management.

The knowledge gap that exists with PHEP frameworks thus extends to their comprehensiveness to reflect the dynamic and social context of public health emergencies and the complex public health system. Resilience-oriented interventions for community disaster preparedness have been proposed by accounting for the complexity of the emergency context and we argue that complexity is the backdrop that must guide strategy in re-framing PHEP. Complexity as a theoretical approach is described as a set of concepts and analytic tools that can be applied to understand various properties of systems and is potentially useful in developing management or intervention strategies.

Disaster Management refers to the means that will be taken in the event of a disaster — so if the disaster occurs and the prevention didn't help, disaster management is using the prepared tools and methods to reduce the damage itself and its effects. Disaster Risk Reduction is part and parcel of Disaster Management. Specifically, in the event of a pandemic, the government of any country will often have its hands full directing the actions of that country's first responders, medical professionals, and healthcare organizations; tracking exposure; controlling the release of stockpiles of drugs, vaccines, food, water, and other. Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. The ultimate purpose of emergency management is to save lives, preserve the environment and protect property and the economy. Emergency management is comprised of four interdependent risk-based functions: prevention/mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.