Coping with disaster : WHO's role in global emergencies.

Cover title

A world of calamities -- Humanitarian assistance -- The role of WHO in emergency management -- WHO emergency preparedness and planning -- WHO emergency response -- Emergency information system -- Investing in the future

There has probably never been a single day in human history without some community, somewhere in the world, either suffering a natural or man-made calamity or picking up the pieces after such a disaster. But only in recent decades have those calamities been so vividly transmitted into the homes of millions of television viewers. That same medium encourages the viewers to judge the speed and effectiveness with which local and international services respond to disasters. The very fact that millions of viewers, and readers of the press, are critically aware of disasters virtually as they happen, and of the response to them, has given emergency-related activities a much greater political dimension than they ever had in the past. The World Health Organization (WHO) has a clear mandate to do everything in its power to mitigate the health consequances of emergencies, wherever they occur. Its concern is Health for All, whatever the age, gender or status of the victims