Covid 19 disaster management
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Answer:
COVID-19 has impacted nations across the world, disrupting lives, economies and societies. The way ahead to recovery planning is to rethink approaches and mainstream COVID-19 response into development planning across sectors.
With a vision to enable knowledge sharing and information to spur innovative thinking around issues surrounding COVID-19 pandemic management- infection prevention and control measures, addressing outbreak in densely populated areas, waste management, innovative technologies, WASH, Gender based violence and psychosocial support etc., the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India and WHO Country Office for India convened a series of webinars dedicated to COVID-19 and disaster management.
The webinars brought eminent experts to share their insights on the next steps to promote strengthening of the health systems, equitable access to health services, inter-sectoral collaboration, and resilience. The webinars drew more than 1700 participants including state emergency management experts, disaster risk reduction (DRR) experts, policy makers and academic experts from across India.
Five panels of policy-makers, health officials, partners, and advocates discussed the shifts needed to recover from disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Discussions focused on the role of partners in steering integrated approaches toward creating a safer world and enhancing preparedness for future epidemics.
“Organizations, initiatives, and networks that support evidence-informed policymaking can play an important role in providing relevant and timely evidence to inform pandemic responses and bridge the gap between science, policy, and politics”, says Maj Gen Manoj Kumar Bindal, VSM, Executive Director, NIDM.
Some of the other key experts included: Dr Surya Parkash, Head, Geo-Meteorological Risks Management Division, NIDM; Dr Tran Minh, Team Leader, Health Security and Emergency Response, WHO Country Office for India; and Dr Saurabh Dalal, NPO Emergency, WHO Country Office for India.
Some of the important key messages from the webinar were:
There is a need for strengthening collaboration, command, control, and communication systems for efficient, prompt, and graded response and recovery.
Technology cannot replace or make up for other public policy measures, but it does have an increasingly critical role to play in emergency responses. Covid-19 presents an excellent opportunity to reflect on the legal plausibility, ethical soundness, and effectiveness to use emerging technologies to inform evidence-based public health interventions.
There is a need for prioritizing the COVID-19 prevention and control in informal settlements, to assess the community risk perception, and thought process to enable community-based public health emergency preparedness and risk informed policy making in future.
WASH is vital to COVID-19 response and recovery. Best practices for safely managing health-care waste should be followed, including assigning responsibility and adequate human and material resources for safe management and disposal of wastes.
Multi-hazard preparedness with a focus on health needs to be integrated across sectors. Risk assessments and risk preparedness should emerge as a culture for next generations to enable better management of disasters and public health emergencies.
Documentation of best practices, creating knowledge platform for lessons-learning will promote an inclusive, participatory and well-informed preparedness strategies.
The participants of the webinars unanimously called for continuing this collaboration through training initiatives with a focus on health system strengthening and emergency preparedness.