Communicable disease control in emergencies: A field manual
By Elizabeth Henderson, PhD
Epidemiologist, Calgary Health Region
Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Cana
Canadian Journal of Public Health
Communicable Disease Control in Emergencies: A Field Manual World Health Organization. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO Press, 2005; 295 pp., $36
The book Communicable Disease Control in Emergencies is a field manual published for health care and public health professionals working in complex emergency and disaster situations. The purpose of the manual is to provide the tools needed to detect, prevent and control the transmission of major communicable diseases in the affected populations.
The book is divided into 5 chapters. chapter 1 (Rapid assessment) focuses on the criteria needed to develop a team to manage communicable diseases, and identifies the criteria for assessing, analyzing and coordinating the situation. Chapter 2 (prevention) identifies the interventions that should be implemented to prevent communicable diseases from occurring. This chapter emphasizes primary prevention of communicable disease. Chapter 3 (surveillance) identifies the key steps in setting up and running a surveillance program in an emergency or natural disaster. The objective is to monitor and detect communicable diseases early.
Chapter 4 (Outbreak control) provides a step-by-step outline of the key outbreak control activities that must occur during an emergency. The objective here is intervention before the outbreak spreads. The final chapter (Disease prevention and control) identifies specific control measures that are recommended for the management of different diseases commonly associated with emergencies and disasters (i.e., diarrhea, measles, etc.). The book also has 15 appendices that provide valuable tools for the management of communicable diseases, ranging from case definitions, to surveillance and outbreak forms.
The information provided in this book is clear, concise and comprehensive. The one area that is not addressed overtly in the book is the situation in which a natural disaster or emergency has developed as a result of a communicable disease (i.e., a massive epidemic or pandemic). While the tools provided by this book would be somewhat useful in preventing a secondary outbreak of communicable disease in that event, the priorities and needs of the affected population would be different because the first priority would be control of the primary outbreak.
Given that significant morbidity and mortality is often associated with communicable diseases that develop secondary to natural disasters and complex emergencies, this book is a valuable tool for health care and public health professionals.
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