THE SPECIFIC HUMAN HEALTH IMPACTS OF NATURAL
CASE BOX 4.9 CONTROLLING THE EMERGENCE OF NEW INFECTIOUS DISEASES: SEVERE ACUTE RESPIRATORY
SYNDROME (SARS) 2002–2003
In November 2002, there were reports of an outbreak of unknown infectious disease in Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong Province in mainland China. Although as a geographic neighbour of Hong Kong, there was limited documentation of relevant exchanges between health authorities of the two communities. In February 2003, a visitor from Guangzhou, who had con-tracted the infection before travelling, visited Hong Kong. This visitor became the primary source of spreading the infection, later named severe acute respi-ratory syndrome (SARS), first in Hong Kong, and later to other cities around the world. During the subsequent months, the outbreak of SARS in Hong Kong had infected 1,755 people, among whom 299 eventually died (WHO, 2004, April 21). About 20% of the infected were health care personnel work-ing in hospital wards where the SARS patients were treated and six of them died. The outbreak of SARS not only impacted the health of the population, but also had a great socio- economic impact on the city.
Consequences
New public health measures were established after the SARS incident to pro-tect this urban community from future infectious disease risk. To name a few:
• Expansion and strengthening of public health services against infectious diseases;
• Establishment of Schools of Public Health in local universities to advance knowledge in infectious disease public health emergency response capacity building;
• Development of closer collaboration between Hong Kong, mainland China counterparts and the World Health Organization (WHO) in infec-tious disease surveillance and communication; and
• New contingency plans and infectious disease control protocols and public risk communication approaches had been developed.
Source: Lee (2014).
public health responses include ensuring a safe water supply to prevent waterborne diseases spreading, rigorous hygiene practices to protect humans from contaminated sources, vaccination campaigns to boost body immunity, and isolation and quaran-tine to prevent further contact with infected people (see Case Box 4.9).
The concept of one health is important to ensure health of other species (e.g.
birds and poultries as to avian fl u) should also be maintained and continuous sur-veillance efforts should be invested by the at- risk community.
In summary, infectious disease outbreaks are characterised by an unexpected, sudden and severe disease occurrence in a geographical location. Such outbreaks may occur when the interaction of host, disease agent and environment become unbalanced. Health impacts vary among different epidemic agents, but often some consequence might be severe and fatal. Continual surveillance and appropriate infection control measures targeting specifi c epidemic agents and settings help reduce the further spread of disease and alleviate the health impact.
Conclusion
This chapter examines the characteristics, health impacts and risk factors of several types of natural disasters, including earthquakes and tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, fl oods, cyclones, droughts and famines, heatwaves and cold waves, and epidemics.
In general, each natural hazard poses unique health threats to at- risk populations.
Disaster medical relief efforts should address both specifi c health threats associated with the disaster subtype as well as to cater for the general health needs of the underlying population.
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Disasters cannot be prevented but their human health impact can be mitigated.
Public health focuses on prevention and protection and adopts a population- based, life- course approach. Disaster response is a core competency in public health practice and public health approaches to disasters and crises are of a pro-active, preventive and multidisciplinary nature. It includes risk management with a focus on disaster preparedness and risk reduction to help reduce the vulner-abilities of communities and increase their coping capacity. This chapter will highlight humanitarian principles, public health responses in disasters and the basic requirements for heath.
Humanitarian principles
Despite the end of the Cold War in the 1990s globally, protracted confl ict and the need for humanitarian assistance has increased dramatically during the past three decades.
Humanitarian principles are the guiding rules and fundamental principles of humanitarian action. There are four key humanitarian principles endorsed by the UN General Assembly. Humanity : human suffering must be addressed wherever it is found. The purpose of humanitarian action is to protect life and health and ensure respect for human beings. Neutrality : humanitarian actors must not take sides in hostilities or engage in controversies of political, racial, religious or ideo-logical nature. Impartiality : humanitarian action must be carried out on the basis of need alone, giving priority to the most urgent cases of distress and making no distinctions on the basis of nationality, race, gender, religion, belief, class or political opinion. Operational independence : humanitarian action must be autonomous from the political, economic, military or other objectives that any actor may hold