Disaster and health
Convener: Johan von Schreeb, Centre for Research on Health Care in Disasters, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet
Contact: johan.von.schreeb@ki.se
The role of research in improving response to disaster and mitigate them from happening. A trans disciplinary panel that explores topics and way forward for research areas that matters, from academy to society.
The number of natural disasters and people affected by disasters globally are increasing as are the number of refugees. With climate change and more conflicts there is no sign that this development will change in coming years. Low-income countries are most disaster prone but high-income countries will be indirectly be affected as people will flee disaster affected areas. To date research on the effects of disasters, how to respond and mitigate them and reduce hazards and vulnerabilities has been patchy and discipline specific. Results from one scientific field cannot be interpreted or used by other fields and policies are not evidence based. Significant work is needed to build capacities in disaster prone countries. This requires investments in multidisciplinary field based research that focuses on the need of the population.
This panel will invite speakers from different disciplines (medicine, geology, anthropology, peace and conflict research, development etc) to define areas where research could contribute to improved disaster response and mitigation and how capacities can be built in disaster prone areas.
The panel will consist of invited researchers and practitioners with either research or experience from the disaster field, or preferably both. He/she will, in a seminar form address a set of questions that will be interactively developed by specialist in the field before the meeting. The questions will focus on research gaps and potentials for interdisciplinary implementation research. Following the seminars a panel discussion will be held that aim at outlining a defining the most important topics and outlining a roadmap for how such research can be developed
This panel builds on the experience, global collaborations and research at the centre for research on health in disasters (Global health-health system and policy) at Karolinska Institutet. We will use our experience of setting up institutional capacity building and developing relevant research within disaster medicine.
23 Aug., 11:00–12:30, Seminar Room Y22
- Disasters, vulnerability and conflict risks. Nina von Uexkull, Uppsala University / Peace Research Institute Oslo.
- Water, Sanitation, health vulnerability and disaster nexus in mountainous communities of Baltistan Pakistan. Awais Arifeen, Norwegian University of Life Sciences.
- Armed conflict and maternal health care Micro-level evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa’. Gudrun Østby, Henrik Urdal, Andreas Forø Tollefsen, Andreas Kotsadam, Ragnhild Belbo and Christin Ormhaug, Peace Research Institute Oslo.
Abstracts
Disasters, vulnerability and conflict risks. Nina von Uexkull, Uppsala University / Peace Research Institute Oslo.
How do climate change and natural disasters affect armed conflict? What makes locations more likely to see conflict events following disasters? These questions are important to study in order to assess the security implications of natural disasters, climate change and to identify contexts that are prioritised for reducing vulnerability. Together with researchers from Uppsala University and the Peace Research Institute Oslo, I have conducted several studies on these issues based on quantitative models at the subnational level covering Africa and Asia in the past 25 years. Indicators of disasters (in particular drought) were combined with subnational and country-level indicators of vulnerability to drought (such as agriculture patterns, economic development, politically marginalisation and infant mortality rates) and with geo-referenced data on deadly events in armed conflict. Collaboration with researchers from various related disciplines such as disaster risks, agricultural economics, climate adaptation and health could advance this research agenda by improving empirical models in particular in terms of identification of subnational indicators on vulnerability and exposure to disasters as well as suitable models of disasters impacts on income and food provision. It could also further the study of conflict effects on disaster response and adaptive capacities at the sub-national level.
Water, Sanitation, health vulnerability and disaster nexus in mountainous communities of Baltistan Pakistan. Awais Arifeen, Norwegian University of Life Sciences.
Access to improved water and sanitation is one of the basic human needs and a major factor that affects the health of populations particularly in the developing countries. Poor populations with improper or non-existing water and sanitation systems are exposed to various water-borne diseases. Their inability to gain access to improved water and sanitation services and its consequent effect on health makes them vulnerable to various disasters. With the increasing frequency and intensity of disasters, this situation will exacerbate. For example, flooding due to extreme rainfall causes disruption of sanitation infrastructure, resulting in outbreaks of water-borne diseases. As a result, the health condition of the population deteriorates and its vulnerability is increased affecting its ability to cope with the stresses. This interplay between sanitation, health vulnerability and disasters has kept the vulnerable communities in a vicious cycle. This paper aims to discuss the role of humanitarian assistance in addressing this issue by presenting the research findings from two study villages of Baltistan region in Northern Pakistan. Findings are based on qualitative data collected through semi structured open ended interviews with respondents from villages including key informants, men, women and representatives of village based organisations. Key informants from government and non-government development as well as humanitarian organisations were also interviewed. One of the major findings of the study is that sanitation being a key area that defines the health vulnerability of the communities, remains neglected by both development as well as humanitarian actors compared to water.
Armed conflict and maternal health care Micro-level evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa’. Gudrun Østby, Henrik Urdal, Andreas Forø Tollefsen, Andreas Kotsadam, Ragnhild Belbo and Christin Ormhaug, Peace Research Institute Oslo.
Today, the odds that a woman in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) will die from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth is one in 20 compared to one in 6,250 in the developed world, resulting both from high fertility and maternal mortality rates (UN, 2012). In a region where the majority of countries have experienced armed conflict since the end of the Cold War, we argue that the poor performance may in part be due to detrimental effects of armed conflicts on the access to life-saving maternal health care. This paper aims to increase our knowledge of how the exposure to armed conflict impacts individual women’s use of maternal and reproductive health (MRH) services, specifically antenatal care and professional birth assistance. To examine this question, we combine disaggregated conflict data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program's Geo-referenced Event Dataset (UCDP-GED) with geo-referenced maternal health data from 72 Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in 31 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in 1990–2013, covering information on nearly 600,000 births by almost 400,000 mothers aged 15-49. We use a quasi-experimental approach (mother fixed-effects analysis) to estimate the impact of recent armed conflict patterns within a radius of 50 km of the home of each mother on a child’s likelihood of being born in a medical facility. Hence, we are able to control for a vast amount of variables that may otherwise be spuriously correlated with both maternal care and conflict. In line with our expectation, the results indicate that conflict intensity significantly reduces the probability that a women give birth at a medical facility. Although the level of maternal health care is lower in rural areas the negative impact of conflict seems to be stronger in urban areas. Also, poor women and women with less education are also more strongly affected by conflict with regard to maternal health care. Finally, there appears to be a sudden drop in the care variables precisely in the month a conflict event happens, which takes approximately three years to restore.
