Health Information for Disaster Preparedness in Latin America

Central American Disaster Health Information Network

Presentation to:

EnHIOP, 12-04

Tallahassee, FL

By: John C. Scott

Center for Public Service Communications

On behalf of:

National Library of Medicine

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 isis

Managing Information

Reliable information is the

most valued commodity

before and after a disaster.

Background

Hurricane Mitch October 1998

El SalvadorEarthquakes

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

CRIDCollect and disseminate literature on disasters

DESASTRES bibliographic database

Over 15,000 disaster-related documents

www.crid.or.cr orwww.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Grey Literature Disaster health information in developing countriesis perishable: it’s not peer-reviewed; frequently unpublished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

University of Honduras Medical School

Centro Universitario Region Norte

Participating Sites - Nicaragua

School of Public Health of UNAN

University of Nicaragua Medical School

Participating Sites – El Salvador

Center for the Protection against Disasters

Health Documentation & InformationCenter, Ministry of Health & University

of El Salvador

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 Connectivity128K 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 withcontinued support from the internationaldonor 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 activityand 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

Dave Zervaas & CRID staff

Mel Spann , NLMStacey Arnesen, Victor Cid. NLM

Ricardo Perez, PAHO;John Scott, CPSC

Central American librarians& computer specialists

Cecilia Garcia, UNAH