Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T18:00:31.168Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Enhancing Global Health Security: US Africa Command’s Disaster Preparedness Program

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2018

Melinda J. Morton Hamer ,
Paul L. Reed ,
Jane D. Greulich  and
Charles W. Beadling
Melinda J. Morton Hamer*
Affiliation:
Center for Global Health Engagement, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, Maryland Department of Emergency Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland National Center for the Study of Preparedness and Catastrophic Event Response, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland Center for Refugee and Disaster Response, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland
Paul L. Reed
Affiliation:
Center for Global Health Engagement, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, Maryland
Jane D. Greulich
Affiliation:
Center for Global Health Engagement, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, Maryland
Charles W. Beadling
Affiliation:
Center for Global Health Engagement, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, Maryland
*
Correspondence and reprints request to Melinda J. Morton Hamer, MD, MPH, Major, U.S. Army, Department of Emergency Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1830 E. Monument St., Ste 6-100, Baltimore, MD 21205 (e-mail: [email protected]).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

US Africa Command’s Disaster Preparedness Program (DPP), implemented by the Center for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance Medicine, partnered with US Government agencies and international organizations to promote stability and security on the African continent by engaging with African Partner Nations’ (PN) civil and military authorities to improve disaster management capabilities. From 2008 to 2015, DPP conducted disaster preparedness and response programming with 17 PNs. DPP held a series of engagements with each, including workshops, strategic planning, developing preparedness and response plans, tabletop exercises, and prioritizing disaster management capability gaps identified through the engagements. DPP partners collected data for each PN to further capacity building efforts. Thus far, 9 countries have completed military pandemic plans, 10 have developed national pandemic influenza plans, 9 have developed military support to civil authorities plans, and 11 have developed disaster management strategic work plans. There have been 20 national exercises conducted since 2009. DPP was cited as key in implementation of Ebola response plans in PNs, facilitated development of disaster management agencies in DPP PNs, and trained nearly 800 individuals. DPP enhanced PNs’ ability to prepare and respond to crises, fostering relationships between international agencies, and improving civil-military coordination through both national and regional capacity building. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2019;13:319–329)

Keywords

civil militaryhumanitarian aiddisaster preparednessEbola responsedisaster response
Type
Concepts in Disaster Medicine
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , April 2019 , pp. 319 - 329
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. World Health Organization. Ebola virus disease outbreak. http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/en/. Published 2008. Accessed February 5, 2018.Google Scholar
2. Sy, A, Copley, A. Understanding the economic effects of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/africa-in-focus/posts/2014/10/01-ebola-outbreak-west-africa-sy-copley. Published October 1, 2014. Accessed February 5, 2018.Google Scholar
3. Tappero, JW, Nuzzo, J, Blazes, DL. Shifts in global health security: lessons from Ebola. US Centers for Disease Control website. http://www.cdc.gov/cdcgrandrounds/archives/2015/september292015.htm. Published September 29, 2015. Accessed February 5, 2018.Google Scholar
4. Global Health. Healthy people 2020 topics and objectives. https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/global-health. Published February 1, 2018. Accessed February 5, 2018.Google Scholar
5. Heymann, D. Evolving infectious disease threats to national and global security. In: Chen L, Leaning J, Narasimhan V, eds. Global Health Challenges for Human Security. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; 2003.Google Scholar
6. Allenby, B, Fink, J. Toward inherently secure and resilient societies. Science. 2005;309(5737):1034-1036.Google Scholar
7. Oh, CH, Oetzel, J. Multinationals’ response to major disasters: how does subsidiary investment vary in response to the type of disaster and the quality of host country governance? Strategic Management J. 2011;32(6):658-681.Google Scholar
8. Benson, E, Clay, C. Economic and financial impacts of national disasters: an assessment of their effects and options for mitigation. Overseas Development Institute, April 2003. https://www.odi.org/publications/5011-economic-financial-impacts-natural-disasters-assessment-their-effects-options-mitigation. Accessed July 19, 2016.Google Scholar
9. Deutsch Welle. How political instability affected Nepal’s disaster preparedness. http://www.dw.com/en/how-political-instability-affected-nepals-disaster-preparedness/a-18411259. Accessed July 19, 2016.Google Scholar
10. Ferris, E. Natural disasters, conflict, and human rights: tracing the connections. Brookings Institution http://www.brookings.edu/research/speeches/2010/03/03-natural-disasters-ferris. Published March 3, 2010. Accessed July 19, 2016.Google Scholar
11. Olson, RS, Drury, AC. Un-therapeutic communities: a cross-national analysis of post-disaster political unrest. Int J Mass Emerg Disast. 1997;15(2):221-238.Google Scholar
12. Davies, S. Healthy populations, political stability, and regime type: Southeast Asia as a case study. Global Health Int Relations. 2014;40(5):859-876.Google Scholar
13 Nuclear Threat Initiative. Security and public health: how and why do public health emergencies affect the security of a country? Nuclear Threat Initiative website. http://www.nti.org/analysis/articles/public-health-emergencies-security/. Published January 24, 2007. Accessed February 5, 2018.Google Scholar
14. Heymann, DL, Chen, L, Takemi, K, et al. Global health security: the wider lessons from the West African Ebola virus disease epidemic. Lancet. 2015;385(9980):1884-1901.Google Scholar
15. World Health Organization. Emergency response framework. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/258604/1/9789241512299-eng.pdf. Published 2017. Accessed February 5, 2018.Google Scholar
16 Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. http://www.preventionweb.net/files/43291_sendaiframeworkfordrren.pdf. Accessed December 5, 2015.Google Scholar
17. Center for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance Medicine. Disaster preparedness program. http://www.cdham.org/disaster-preparedness-program-dpp. Accessed July 21, 2016.Google Scholar
18. Miles, D. AFRICOM helps African partners prepare for disaster response. United States Africa Command website. http://archive.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=121363. Published December 18, 2013. Accessed February 5, 2018.Google Scholar
19. UNISDR. Ebola countries implement Sendai Framework. https://www.unisdr.org/archive/49821. Published August 8, 2016. Accessed February 5, 2018.Google Scholar
20. Aliyu, A. Management of disasters and complex emergencies in Africa: the challenges and constraints. Ann Afr Med. 2015;14(3):123-131.Google Scholar
21. Kalambay, K, Abdulmumini, U, World Health Organization, Regional Office for Africa. Disaster preparedness and response in the African region: current situation and way forward. African Health Monitor website. http://www.aho.afro.who.int/sites/default/files/ahm/issues/396/ahm15.pdf. Published June 2012. Accessed February 5, 2018.Google Scholar
22. In On Africa. Emergency preparedness and disaster planning in Africa. http://www.polity.org.za/article/emergency-preparedness-and-disaster-planning-in-africa-2012-09-18. Published September 18, 2012. Accessed February 5, 2018.Google Scholar
23. IRIN News Network. Disaster preparedness “woefully inadequate.” http://www.irinnews.org/news/2009/05/06/disaster-preparedness-%E2%80%9Cwoefully-inadequate%E2%80%9D. Published May 6, 2009. Accessed February 5, 2018.Google Scholar
24. UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa. Disaster risk reduction. http://www.unicef.org/esaro/5484_disaster_risk_reduction.html. Accessed February 5, 2018.Google Scholar
25. U.S. Department of Defense. Department of Defense Instruction 3000.05. Stability operations. http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/300005p.pdf. Published September 16, 2009. Accessed February 5, 2018.Google Scholar
26. Cullison, TR, Beadling, CW, Erickson, E. Global health engagement: a Military medicine core competency. http://ndupress.ndu.edu/Media/News/News-Article-View/Article/643102/global-health-engagement-a-military-medicine-core-competency/. Published January 1, 2016. Accessed February 5, 2018.Google Scholar
27 Licina, D. Disaster Preparedness – formalizing a comparative advantage for the Department of Defense in U.S. Global Health and foreign policy. Mil Med. 2011;176(11):1207-1211.Google Scholar
28 Lim, M, Blazes, D. Collateral duty diplomacy: the U.S. Department of Defense and Global Health Diplomacy. http://www.sciencediplomacy.org/files/collateral_duty_diplomacy_sciencediplomacy.pdf. Published September 2005. Accessed February 5, 2018.Google Scholar
29. National Security Strategy of the United States. http://nssarchive.us/NMS/2015.pdf. Published June 1, 2015. Accessed February 5, 2018.Google Scholar
30. National Military Strategy of the United States of America; 2015. http://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/Publications/2015_National_Military_Strategy.pdf. Published June 1, 2015. Accessed February 5, 2018.Google Scholar
31. Moudy, RM, Ingerson-Mahar, M, Kanter, J, Grant, AM, Fisher, DR, Jones, FR. Bridging the health security divide: Department of Defense support of the Global Health Security Agenda. Biosecur Bioterror. 2014;12(5):257-264.Google Scholar
32. Global Health Security Agenda website. https://ghsagenda.org. Published February 1, 2008. Accessed February 5, 2018.Google Scholar
33. Smith, D. Global Health Engagement: Smart Power in Defense. Brief for the Defense Health Board. https://health.mil/Reference-Center/Presentations/2015/02/11/Global-Health-Engagement. Published February 11, 2015. Accessed February 5, 2018.Google Scholar