The second day of the Conference focused on Building Resilience in Health Emergencies: A Community-Based Approach. The session was delivered by Dr Pretesh Kiran, from India, Associate Professor specialized, among other things, in disaster preparedness and emergency response.
Following the insights given during the first day, we explored issues related to disaster response and the implementation of relief operations. Sharing the participants' field experiences allowed Dr Pretesh to analyse in more detail the health aspects of the populations affected by natural disasters.
An overview showed the variety of health problems related to health from physical health issues caused by the spread of diseases to mental health problems of which attention is less focused but it can have long-term consequences, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
Mental health problems have a powerful impact on the survivors because they cannot be identified immediately and it will appear over a period of time.
To better describe the application of theories on community-based disaster management (CBDM) and understand how different regions (of participants) respond to emergencies, Siby Kaitaran, MI, CTF India coordinator, shared his experience on the relief activities conducted throughout India. India is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. CTF India’s emergency response is concentrated among the flood-affected areas, as well as in border areas like Manipur where ethnic conflicts are prevalent and caused displacement of the population.
We then moved to Ukraine where Doriana Somma, International Project Coordinator for Missione Calcutta, a CADIS partner organization, is part of the programme responding to the Ukrainian crisis. The organisation is currently working in Ukraine, where it has witnessed not only the destruction of cities bombed by the Russian armed forces, but above all the human drama that war brings with it such as post-traumatic stress disorder, new disabilities due to physical mutilation, lack of mental health care tools. The most affected sector of the population are women. They are the most vulnerable. Many became widows, or with children, who have become orphans of one or both parents.
Moving to Poland, still related with the Ukrainian war, Iwona Warzyńska and Ania Suska-Jakubowska, respectively the manager and the project officer of the Camillian Social Mission, CADIS partner in Poland, shared their assistance programme for Ukrainian refugees.
They were at the front line since the very beginning of the war, welcoming refugees at the main stations in Warsaw and giving them information and providing them with food and medical assistance.
Finally, Dr Grace Molina, member of FARDEC and VPHCS, associations based in the Philippines, presented the ongoing long term project implemented by Visayas Primary Healthcare Services, Inc. (VPHCS) in collaboration with CADIS International and with the support of the Italian Bishops' Conference. The project integrates primary healthcare and food security in the Community-Based Disaster Management in the four urban communities in Cebu City, Philippines.
