Natural disaster management: experience of an academic institution after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Ecuador

Older People in Emergencies; Addressing Food Insecurity, Health Status and Quality of Life: Evaluating the "365+ Days of Care" Program

During emergencies, older adults stand among the most vulnerable, facing long-lasting food insecurity and overall health issues. The "365+ Days of Care" food aid program addressed food insecurity and poor quality of life among vulnerable older adults following a devastating wildfire in Greece. Our aim was to evaluate the program's efficiency, using a process evaluation framework and a partial cost-utility analysis. In total, n = 133 wildfire-hit residents (≥65 years) received daily tailored, pre-cooked meals and/or weekly food packages. The study outcomes were assessed from baseline to 12 months later. Focus groups and interviews (n = 30), researcher observations, and questionnaires were used to assess the beneficiaries' perception of the initiative. Within the 12-month follow-up period, food insecurity and malnutrition risk decreased, whereas Mediterranean diet adherence; quality of life; and physical, social, and mental health were improved (p < 0.05). A one-point increase in food insecurity was positively associated with improved quality of life, general health, limitation in activities, body pain, vitality, and pain/discomfort (p's < 0.05), and it was marginally associated with mobility, anxiety/depression, and self-evaluated health status (p's < 0.1). Quantitative and qualitative data characterized it as successful, acceptable, beneficial, and of high quality. The partial cost-utility ratio was one QALY gained per EUR 22.608. The utilization of well-designed food aid programs during emergencies can alleviate food insecurity and improve quality of life in older adults.

The Role of Academic Partnership in Disaster Risk Management: A Systematic Review

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this systematic review is to investigate the community-based academic partnership roles in disaster risk management.

METHODS

The assessment of the documents was conducted by reviewing abstracts and full papers of the available studies, which provided considerable background and promoted knowledge in academic interventional roles in disaster risk management. The articles were searched with a wide range of key words related to the research topic. The studies included the research available between 2000 and September 2017 in the English language. The selection of articles was conducted based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist.

RESULTS

Of 997 articles, we selected 12 full-text articles that met the criteria for the final review based on the study objective. The results show that, although universities can play multidirectional roles in disaster risk management phases, the development of the academic partnership potential and collaboration for disaster risk management and disaster risk reduction for stakeholders is necessary.

CONCLUSION

The universities' potential in providing sufficient disaster health literacy is not currently considered important enough in communities.Therefore, the proper context-bound models of development based on a community's skills and universities' potential should receive more attention.

Disaster Health Literacy of Middle-aged Women

As disasters have been increasing in recent years, disaster health literacy is gaining more important for a population such as middle-age women. This is because they face developmental crises (menopause) and situational crisis (disaster). Due to the growing elderly population, it is imperative to seriously consider the issue of aging women's healthcare, and their educational needs relative to emergencies and disasters. The purpose of study was to clarify the importance of disaster health literacy for middle-age women. This study is a review of the literature using PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, Google Scholar, SCOPUS, OVID, ProQuest, Springer, and Wiley. Data was collected with keywords related to the research topic (“Women's health” OR “Geriatric health”) AND (“Health literacy” OR “Disaster health literacy” OR “Disaster prevention literacy” OR “Risk knowledge” OR “Knowledge management”) AND (“Disasters” OR “Risk” OR “Crises”) in combination with the Boolean-operators OR and AND. We reviewed full text English-language articles published November 2011 November 2017. Additional references were identified from reference lists in targeted publications, review articles and books. This review demonstrated that disaster health literacy is critical for elderly women, because they may suffer from physical and psychological problems triggered by developmental crises such as menopause and situational crises such as disasters. Disaster literacy could enable them to improve resiliency and reduce disaster risk. Education has vital role in health promotion of middle-age women. Policymakers and health managers should be aware of the challenges of elderly women as a vulnerable group in disasters and develop plans to incorporate disaster health literacy for preparedness and prevention in educating this group.

Post-earthquake Zika virus surge: Disaster and public health threat amid climatic conduciveness

A recent major earthquake (M7.8), coupled with appropriate climatic conditions, led to significant destruction in Ecuador. Temperature variations, which may be induced by anthropogenic climate change, are often associated with changes in rainfall, humidity and pressure. Temperature and humidity are associated with ecological modifications that may favour mosquito breeding. We hypothesized that the disruptive ecological changes triggered by the earthquake, in the context of appropriate climatic conditions, led to an upsurge in Zika virus (ZIKV) infections. Here we show that, after controlling for climatic and socioeconomic conditions, earthquake severity was associated with incident ZIKV cases. Pre-earthquake mean maximum monthly temperature and post-earthquake mean monthly pressure were negatively associated with ZIKV incidence rates. These results demonstrate the dynamics of post-disaster vector-borne disease transmission, in the context of conducive/favourable climatic conditions, which are relevant in a climate change-affected world where disasters may occur in largely populated areas.