Question

Understanding Disasters

• What is a disaster? A natural disaster? A complex humanitarian emergency?
• What countries in sub-Saharan Africa have been the largest sources of displaced people? What countries in sub-Saharan Africa have received the largest number of refugees?
• In the early stages of a complex humanitarian emergency, what are likely to be the most significant health concerns for the refugees? How do these change over time?

Answer 1

A disaster is a serious disruption, occurring over a relatively short time, of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.

In contemporary academia, disasters are seen as the consequence of inappropriately managed risk. These risks are the product of a combination of both hazards and vulnerability. Hazards that strike in areas with low vulnerability will never become disasters, as in the case of uninhabited regions

Natural disaster - A natural disaster is a major adverse eventresulting from natural processes of the Earth; examples are floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, and other geologic processes. A natural disaster can cause loss of life or damage property,^] and typically leaves some economic damage in its wake, the severity of which depends on the affected population's resilience, or ability to recover and also on the infrastructure available.

An adverse event will not rise to the level of a disaster if it occurs in an area without vulnerable population. I a vulnerable area, however, such as Nepal during the 2015 earthquake, an earthquake can have disastrous consequences and leave lasting damage, which can require years to repair

Complex humanitarian emergency (CHE), type of disaster event that is caused by and results in a complicated set of social, medical, and often political circumstances, usually leading to great human suffering and death and requiring external assistance and aid. Complex humanitarian emergencies (CHEs) are associated with a variety of factors, such as war, poverty, overpopulation, human-caused environmental destruction and change, and natural disasters. The United Nations (UN) considers a CHE to be a crisis involving multiple causes and requiring a broad and integrated response with long-term political and peacekeeping efforts.The human-made or natural events that cause complex emergencies introduce hazards into populations that are both vulnerable and susceptible to those particular hazards. The event then exceeds the capacity of the society to respond and therefore demands regional or international assistance. Most often, CHEs result from dramatic events leading to a synergy of hazards, which often include infectious diseases; limited access to food, clean water, and housing; violence; and failing health infrastructure and the absence of immunization. Children between 0 and 5 years of age are at particularly high risk in these situations. Relatively minor acuteevents in the setting of chronic violence, political unrest, and poor health and educational infrastructure can result in significant elevations in illness and death. The majority of deaths from outbreaks of infectious disease occur in less-developed countries that lack adequate public health practices and health infrastructure.

The total number of people living in sub-Saharan Africa who were forced to leave their homes due to conflict reached a new high of 18.4 million in 2017, up sharply from 14.1 million in 2016 – the largest regional increase of forcibly displaced people in the world, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees data.

The world’s displaced population has increased dramatically since 2012, reaching its highest levels since World War II. The Middle East drove much of the increase between 2012 and 2015 due to conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, but in 2017, the vast majority of growth has come from displaced populations living in sub-Saharan Africa. Since 2015, the region’s displaced population has jumped by 42%, with most of this increase taking place in 2017 alone. By comparison, the number of displaced people living in the Middle East-North Africa region fell 8% between 2015 and 2017, though it remains the world’s largest total overall.

Uganda hosted the highest number of sub-Saharan refugees (nearly 1.4 million) in 2017, mostly from South Sudan. Nearly 900,000 refugees lived in Ethiopia, with nearly half from South Sudan, and many of the rest from Somalia and Eritrea. The Democratic Republic of the Congo had more than 500,000 refugees from various neighboring countries, including Rwanda, Central African Republic and South Sudan.

Sub-Saharan African countries hosted a relatively small number of asylum seekers – people who have left their home country and asked for protection. There were about 500,000 asylum seekers living in the region in 2017, with the vast majority coming from other sub-Saharan African countries.

Nearly four-in-five displaced persons (79%) living in sub-Saharan Africa came from just five nations in 2017: Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria and Central African Republic. (Many refugees from these origin countries also belong to long-term refugee populations – communities that have had 25,000 or more refugees for five or more years.)

With more than a billion people living in sub-Saharan Africa, the number of displaced people in the region made up just 1.8% of the region’s population in 2017. Nonetheless, this share has increased in recent years and is at its highest level since records on displaced persons began in 1993. In 2017, only the Middle East-North Africa region had a higher share of its population living as internally displaced persons, refugees or asylum seekers (3.8%).

Answer 2- Populations affected by armed conflict have experienced severe public health con-

sequences mediated by population displacement, food scarcity, and the collapse of

basic health services, giving rise to the term complex humanitarian emergencies.

These public health effects have been most severe in underdeveloped countries in

Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Refugees and internally displaced persons have

experienced high mortality rates during the period immediately following their

migration. In Africa, crude mortality rates have been as high as 80 times baseline

rates. The most common causes of death have been diarrheal diseases, measles,

acute respiratory infections, and malaria. High prevalences of acute malnutrion

tion have contributed to high case fatality rates. In conflict-affected European

countries, such as the former Yugoslavia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Chechnya,

war-related injuries have been the most common cause of death among civilian

populations; however, increased incidence of communicable diseases, neonatal

health problems, and nutritional deficiencies (especially among the elderly) have

been documented. The most effective measures to prevent mortality and morbid-

ity in complex emergencies include protection from violence; the provision of ad-

equate food rations, clean water and sanitation; diarrheal disease control; measles

immunization; maternal and child health care, including the case management of

common endemic communicable diseases; and selective feeding programs, when indicated.

children in

families with no adult male present were at significantly higher risk of malnutri-

tion than those children in households headed by an adult male (20). Prevalence

rates of acute malnutrition among the internally displaced have tended textremely high. In southern Somalia during 1992, the prevalence of acute

malnutrition among children less than 5 years in displaced persons camps in

Marka and Qorioley was 75%, compared with 43% among town residents (23).

In March 1993, approximately 70% of internally displaced children in several

sites in southern Sudan were acutely malnourished .

Help- .

• Provide mental health aid for those affected. Those who have been displaced have undergone a significant change in way of life, perhaps including loss of livelihood, extreme poverty, and damaged social support structure. Because of the ongoing conflict, they also may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
• Provide assistance for women and children. These groups often constitute more than three-fourths of the victims, and mortality rates rise 10- to 30-fold above normal levels, according to a study published in the journal Medicine and Global Survival. In addition, in refugee camps, extra care is needed to ensure female-headed households receive rations.

• Fund research into lessons learned in previous CHEs. Each situation has unique elements, but some lessons may be applied more broadly. In addition, this area of aid has lacked accountability and evaluation, according to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development. Funding for post-event evaluations would enhance accountability while providing resources that could be adapted for future events.
• Provide assistance for public health needs. With a disaster or ongoing conflict, gains made in public health—immunization, water, sanitation and the like—can be quickly wiped out. Shoring up public health assistance in developing nations and those that focus on complex humanitarian emergencies is an area of need. Developing epidemic preparedness protocols could aid public health in a variety of situations as well.

There are lot if changes have been made to help .i am sharing few of them

• The Vodaphone Foundation Technology Partnership has teamed with the United Nations Foundation to provide expertise and telecommunications resources to NGOs during an emergency. The program allows relief workers to quickly establish a mobile phone network for reliable communications. It also has been used to take photos of refugees with a goal of reuniting families.

• The MacArthur Foundation has funded numerous initiatives related to CHEs in recent years, including providing a $225,000 grant to create an international criminal court for crimes committed in Uganda; and $1.5 million for programs aimed at children affected by civil war in Uganda.
• The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has long been active in Haiti, but since the earthquake has devoted significant resources to immediate health needs, such as $65,000 to the Soul Foundation for medical care for special needs orphans, and $540,000 to St. Boniface Haiti Foundation for prenatal, maternal, and child health care. Long-term efforts have included $600,000 to World Vision for programs to help farmers in poor regions increase food supply, and $300,000 to the Nature Conservancy to develop eco-tourism development and environmental protection in coastal areas.