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Preparedness and Mitigation in the Americas PREPAREDNESS AND MITIGATION IN THE AMERICAS Issue No. 67 News and Information for the International Disaster Community July 1996 WHO Issues New International Guidelines for Drug Donations An Initiative to Reduce Waste in Emergencies he World Health Organization (WHO) administrative arrangements; released new international Guidelines for • there should be no double standards in quali- T Drug Donations, which are designed to ty; if the quality of an item is unacceptable in improve the quality of this assistance both in acute the donor country, it is also unacceptable as a emergencies as well as in development aid pro- donation; and grams. Experience in emergencies over the years • there should be effective communication has shown that donations of pharmaceuticals often between the donor and recipient. prove to be more harmful than helpful. They may The Guidelines were developed by WHO and not be relevant to a particular emergency situa- represent the culmination of efforts to standardize tion, or may not comply with local drug policies drug donations begun in the early 1980s by orga- and standard treatment nizations such as the guidelines. Many donated International Committee of drugs have arrived unsorted, the Red Cross (ICRC) and or labeled in a language the Christian Medical which is not easily under- Commission (CMC) of the I N S I D E stood in the recipient country. World Council of Churches. The problem is not limited They reflect a consensus News from to the Americas. In the for- among the major internation- PAHO/WHO mer Yugoslavia, of all the al agencies which are active 2 donated drugs destined for in humanitarian emergency Other the region that were relief (WHO, UNHCR, Organizations received by WHO’s Area UNICEF, ICRC, IFRCRCS, 3 Office in Zagreb, 15% were MSF, CMC and Oxfam) as Member completely unusable and well as consultations with Countries 30% were not needed. more than 100 humanitarian 4 The 12 articles of the organizations and individual Review of WHO’s Guidelines are designed to reduce the problems Guidelines for Drug associated with the donation of pharmaceuticals —problems experts. Publications Donations are based on four that arise in many disaster situations For more information, 6 Photo: PAHO/WHO (Acosta) core principles: please contact Margaret Upcoming • A drug donation should benefit the recipient Helling-Borda, Director, WHOAction Programme Meetings 6 to the maximum extent possible; on Essential Drugs, Fax (41-22) 791-2300. Selected • a donation should be given with full respect All WHO press releases, fact sheets and fea- Bibliography for the wishes and authority of the recipient, tures are available on the Internet on the WHO 8 and support existing government policies and Home Page http://www.who.ch ❏ ISSN 0251-4486 News from PAHO/WHO The Regional Disaster Documentation Center Six Years of Distribution Access to information is key to The demand for information is growing—the CDD currently the decision making process and handles some 500 requests each month. The Center also par- consequently, to the development of ticipates in national and international conferences, provides disaster management plans. Many technical assistance to other regional documentation centers, sectors have documented their expe- and serves a large number of users on-site in San Jose. The riences-both successful and other- capacity to meet these demands, however, is reaching its lim- wise. There is much to be learned its, and the CDD must now implement several new strategies if by studying what has worked and it is to continue providing the quality and quantity of services Regional Disaster learning from past mistakes. The to the growing disaster community: Documentation Regional Disaster Documentation • share the mailing costs of sending documents (particularly Center P.O. Box 3745-1000 Center (C D D), a P A H O/W H O/I D N D R bulk orders.) In special cases in Latin America and the San Jose, Costa Rica Center, serves as a central refer- Caribbean, exceptions may be made if circumstances war- Fax:(506) 231-5973 ence point for the collection of all rant it. In most cases, the first two documents will be sent at E-mail: [email protected] kinds of disaster information. no cost. P A H O created this Center at the • promote the creation of information networks in the coun- beginning of the International Decade for Natural Disaster tries. This strategy is operational in Peru and Ecuador Reduction in response to a clearly-defined need in the region: through national health networks (coordinated by B I R E M E, to collect and catalog information that already exists on disas- P A H O’s Regional Center on Health Sciences Information) ter preparedness, mitigation, prevention and management in and will, most likely, be extended to the rest of the Latin America and the Caribbean and provide it free-of- Americas. The Center also collaborates with a network of charge to disaster professionals in this region. The govern- social sciences documentation centers organized by ITDG. ment of Costa Rica has provided space for the Center at the • use, to the extent possible, the Internet for searches, Comisión Nacional de Emergencia. requests and transfer of documents. The Center has begun In the six years since its creation, the Center has indexed to collect selected documents in electronic format and will almost 9,000 documents, 250 audiovisuals and 300 periodical give priority to this strategy in the future. titles into a database called D E S A S T R E S. An average of 150 • enlist other partners at regional or subregional level who new documents are added monthly. Information on what is will not only share costs but can also take advantage of the available in the database is published in several forms: the Center’s infrastructure and thus serve the disaster commu- comprehensive index DESINDEX; a series of selected bibliogra- nity of the Americas more effectively. phies called BI B L I O D E S ; and on the Internet (see following stories). eginning in September, disaster professionals will be able to use a new online search feature to locate documents in the database DESASTRES. An interface has been developed for the Microisis- B based database on the Internet’s World Wide Web and users will be able to search the database electronically by topic, title of the document, author, or key word. In addition, you will also be able to perform other operations long distance such as submitting requests for material and sending documents electronically. Users who do not have access to the WWW’s graphic environment will be able to use the same services by electronic mail. We’re working Complete instructions will be available in the next issue of the newsletter. Contact the Regional on it! Disaster Documentation Center in Costa Rica <c d d c o r @ p a h o . o r g> or PAHO headquarters <[email protected]> for more information. 2 Disasters: Preparedness and Mitigation in the Americas, July 1996 Other Organizations IDNDR Day 1996 Cities at Risk Featured as Topic Internet Conference on Solutions of World Day for Cities at Risk By the year 2000, 17 of the 20 largest cities in The IDNDR Secretariat and the Regional Office the world will be in developing countries (as com- for Latin America and the Caribbean will organize pared to 7 of 20 in 1950). Most of these are in a conference on the Internet, running from August areas where earthquakes, floods, landslides and through mid-October 1996, on solutions for Cities other natural disasters are likely to happen. at Risk. Papers will be presented on issues such as IDNDR Day, celebrated on 9 October, will pro- planning, organization, health, training or early mote awareness of the factors that place cities at warning. Participants are invited to comment and risk and measures that can be taken to reduce share their experience. The goal is not to discuss them. However, as in past years, the focus is on scientific or technical solutions in depth, but to making this and the other important topics the exchange practical solutions that city authorities subject of year-long public awareness campaigns. and concerned citizens can adapt to their own For an information brochure on ways to celebrate realities. The Conference will be hosted by IDNDR day contact the IDNDR Secretariat at Quipunet, an NGO which promotes education via Palais des Nations, 1211, Geneva 10, Switzerland; the Internet. It will be held in English and Spanish fax: 4122-733-8695; e-mail: id n d r @ d h a . u n i c c . o r g . at: h t t p : / / w w w . q u i p u . n e t. Even if you only Readers in the Caribbean can contact the IDNDR have e-mail access, you will still be able to partic- Regional Office at Apartado Postal 3745-1000, ipate. Contact the IDNDR Secretariat San Jose, Costa Rica; fax: 506-257-21-41; e-mail: (i d n d r @ d h a . u n i c c . o r g) or their Regional Office [email protected]. ❏ in Costa Rica (p e d c o r @ s o l . r a c s a . c o . c r) for instructions on how to do this. For more informa- tion on the virtual Conference and the mailing list they will create, contact Quipunet by e-mail at [email protected]. ❏ BIBLIO-DES available on: News from PAHO/WHO (from pg. 2) Earthquakes Environmental Health Disasters-Health Effects Biblio-des DESINDEX Technological Disasters Education and Disasters B I B L I O-D E S is the bibliographic series extracted D E S I N D E X is the comprehensive, chronological Mental Health from the database.
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