Health Information for Disaster Preparedness in Latin America

Presentation to: EnHIOP, 12-04 Tallahassee, FL By: John C. Scott Center for Public Service Communications On behalf of: National Library of Medicine

Central American Disaster Health Information Network

Project Origins

Hurricane Mitch 1998 El Salvador Earthquakes 2001

Project Goal

Support, rebuild, and improve the health information infrastructure of Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador and Guatemala: Technology infrastructure Training of health science librarians Information product development

Managing Disasters

is

Managing Information

Reliable information is the most valued commodity before and after a disaster.

Background

Hurricane Mitch October 1998 El Salvador Earthquakes Jan./Feb. 2001

NLM/

PAHO

Special Project

Unique opportunity for collaboration between NLM, as the world’s largest medical library and PAHO whose mission is improving the health of the people of the Americas Use the Regional Disaster Information Center for Latin America and the Caribbean (CRID) as contractor

CRID

Collect and disseminate literature on disasters DESASTRES bibliographic database Over 15,000 disaster-related documents www.crid.or.cr

or www.crid.desastres.net

Disaster Information Management Wealth of information but little is accessible

Information about lessons learned is valuable throughout the region , but little in writing and often not circulated.

Grey Literature

Disaster health information in developing countries is perishable: it’s not peer-reviewed; frequently unpublished

Internet Access

Internet access has been limited, but this is changing. Info access has gone from weeks/months to minutes and from hard copy to searchable electronic files

Participating Sites - Honduras

Centro Universitario Region Norte University of Honduras Medical School

Participating Sites - Nicaragua

University of Nicaragua Medical School School of Public Health of UNAN

Participating Sites – El Salvador

Health Documentation & Information Center, Ministry of Health & University of El Salvador Center for the Protection against Disasters

Participataing Site: Guatemala

Universidad de San Carlos, Biblioteca de la Facultad de Medicina

Note: Guatemala was funded by U.K. via PAHO

Project Objectives

Training of health science librarians Improving technology infrastructure Development of Information Products

Librarian Training

Four train-the-trainers courses

Costa Rica ( 2001); Bethesda, MD (2001) Nicaragua (2002); Guatemala (2004) Librarians and computer specialists

Additional training

Librarians now training professionals, researchers, government officials, community organizations, etc in their own countries

Technology Infrastructure

Computer Equipment Installation Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica (Summer 2001) El Salvador (Summer 2002) Guatemala (January 2004) Each site received a server, router, UPS, switch, laser printer, scanner, and two PCs Internet Connectivity 128K in Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador 256K at CRID

Information Products

Digital Library

3,800 documents digitized and available through the CRID web site Links from DESASTRES database to documents Documents also available from local disaster information centers CDs: Top 100 documents special topics

Information Products (continued)

Document accessibility

Develop full-text searching capability of documents

Web site development by participating sites

Health resources Disaster resources Local resources

Future Activities

Disaster Health Information Center Toolkit Expansion of Network

Funding from UK to add Guatemala Possible Caribbean, South America expansion Increased attention to related issues: environmental health/toxicology

Promotion and Evaluation Information Product Development Information Technology Support

Evaluation and Sustainability

Use of NLM and CRID resources by participating sites for disaster planning Incorporate information resources into curriculum Migrate program to local management with continued support from the international donor community

Lessons Learned

Success requires leadership and vision at many levels Multiple sites require time, energy, patience,flexibility Collaboration requires sensitivity to linguistic and cultural issues Partnerships require teamwork and compromise Possible applicability in US states/local communities Value in NLM-PAHO collaboration

Conclusion

Dissemination of quality information is:

the most cost effective disaster reduction activity and a way to empower national and local communities

Project Team

NLM

: Ms. Stacey Arnesen; Mr. Victor Cid Dr. Melvin Spann

PAHO

: Mr. Ricardo Perez

CRID

: Mr. Dave Zervaas and staff

CPSC

: Mr. John Scott

Project Team

Central American librarians & computer specialists Cecilia Garcia, UNAH Dave Zervaas & CRID staff Ricardo Perez, PAHO; John Scott, CPSC Stacey Arnesen, Victor Cid. NLM Mel Spann , NLM