As Guyana observes World Health Day 2009 today, the Ministry of Health commenced a three-day consultation workshop yesterday on the National Health Sector Disaster Plan for Guyana.The consultation is being held at Cara Lodge on Quamina Street and focuses mainly on ensuring that all hospitals and health facilities are safe during disasters. The consultation is primarily intended to start the process of developing a national health sector disaster plan and to build some consensus on what should be its major content, particularly with regard to roles and priority scenarios to be addressed.The objectives of the consultation are to introduce some basic concepts and principles in disaster management, such as definition of disaster; the disaster management cycle; comprehensive disaster management including risk reduction; introduction of terms such as risks, hazards and vulnerability.The objectives also include reviewing the draft National Health Sector Disaster Plan,Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping, arrive at consensus on roles and responsibilities of the key stakeholders in disaster management in the health sector, arrive at consensus on key actions to be taken to prepare for and respond to the priority emergencies/disasters identified, devise common formats for disaster assessment reports and situation reports and to provide an opportunity for participants to familiarize themselves with each other and the roles, capacities and needs of their agencies.The three-day consultation is being held in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and the World Health Organisation (WHO).Country Representative of PAHO, Dr. Kathleen Israel noted that the workshop and the development of the disaster plan, form part of the Ministry of Health’s effort to enhance disaster management in the sector and it is in keeping with PAHO’s commitment to supporting disaster preparedness,China NFL Jerseys, mitigation and response.The activities that surround the observance of World Health Day focus on the resilience and safety of health facilities and the health workers who treat persons affected with emergencies.According to Dr. Israel, disasters around the world are increasing and they are taking a heavy toll on the countries affected.According to the United Nations International Strategy for disaster reduction, in 2008 there were 321 natural disasters which claimed the lives of 235 million people and cost the United States some US$181 billion.“This trend is expected to continue as climate change causes more extreme weather patterns. When disasters strike, hospitals and health facilities are expected to be the lifeline of those affected… However, these facilities are themselves affected by the disasters and are unable to function and to provide the necessary treatment,Cheap Sports Jerseys, which proves to be very tragic for that country,Cheap Air Max Tn,” Dr. Israel noted.Director General of the WHO, Dr. Margaret Chand and the PAHO representative said that apart from causing increased suffering and the loss of lives, the failure of health facilities during emergency,Supply NFL Jerseys Factory, could provoke an outcry.“Hospitals should never be allowed to become disaster victims themselves…while we cannot prevent natural hazards; we can and must make sure that our hospitals stand up to disasters.”In this regard, Dr. Israel urged for a series of interventions of best practices to be implemented in observation of World Health Day 2009, so as to make health facilities safer during emergencies.These interventions she pointed out,Wholesale Baseball Jerseys, should include good planning and carrying out emergency exercise in advance, as well as implementing measures such as early warning systems and preparing staff to manage mass causalities.Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health, Shamdeo Persaud outlined the amount of disasters that have hit Guyana and the response of the health officials. He noted that the biggest experience was the floods in 2005 and noted that planning and preparation are needed in order to deal with these disasters.World Health Day is being observed under the theme, “When disaster strikes, safe hospitals save lives.”