Disasters, depending on their type and magnitude, result
in various levels of morbidity
and mortality. Except earthquakes that produce special
demands, the number of disaster
victims requiring medical care is usually low. The demand
for curative care is highest
during the acute emergency stage, when the affected
population is most vulnerable to the
new environment and before basic public health measures
such as water, sanitation and
shelter have been implemented. Afterwards, the priority
should shift to preventive
measures that can improve the overall health of the
displaced population dramatically.
Disasters call for a coordinated response between
curative and preventive health services,
including food supply, water and sanitation. To minimise
mortality and morbidity, it is
also necessary to organise the relief response according
to three levels of preventive
health measures.
Primary prevention is the ultimate goal of preventive
health care. It aims to prevent the
transmission of disease to generally healthy populations
by using the following actions:
·
Promoting healthy practices;
·
Implementing public health measures that reduce
a population’s exposure to risk
factors such as ensuring a safe drinking water supply to
prevent diarrhoea, an
adequate food supply to minimise malnutrition and
distributing mosquito nets to
prevent malaria.
·
Conducting medical interventions such as
chemo-prophylactics against malaria and
measles immunisation.
Secondary prevention identifies and treats as
early as possible diseased people to
prevent the infection from progressing to a more serious
complication or death. This is
done using the following:
·
Alleviating symptoms of diseases such as giving
Oral Rehydration Solution early to a
child with diarrhoea to prevent dehydration and possible
death; and
·
Curing patients with diseases through early
detection and treatment of TB, dysentery,
etc.
Tertiary prevention reduces permanent damage from
disease such as a patient being
offered rehabilitative services to lower the effects of
paralysis due to polio or land mine
injuries. you can get more health information through this link: http://healthee.pk/