Natural Disasters: Protecting the Public’s Health

Natural disasters continue to batter the Americas and virtually every other corner of the world and these guidelines are intended to be used as a tool for weakening a disaster’s worst ravages on the population’s health. This publication outlines the health sector’s role in reducing the impact of disasters, laying out a framework that an administrator can rely on to make effective decisions in managing the health sector’s activities to reduce the consequences of disasters. It describes the overall effects of disasters on health, highlighting myths and realities, and summarizes how the health sector must organize itself to cope.