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The purpose of this essay is to critically discuss the management of a public health incidence in connection to the public health portfolio. It briefly describes the stages involved in it, and emphasizes on preparedness, response and recovery processes. It concludes with a reflection on lessons learned and recommendations made for better future preparedness and planning. The chosen case study for this essay is Cyclone Fani in Odisha on May 2019.
Public health requires knowledge through the theory, experience, and evidence which contribute to improving the health need of the population, according to Heller et al.
(2003, p.64). There are three well defined and interlinked domains of the public health which include health improvement, health services and health protection (Griffiths et al., 2005).
The health of people can be improved by promoting healthy lifestyles and dealing with health inequalities by providing high quality and cost-effective treatment and making it accessible for everyone (Somerville, Kumaran and Anderson,2016). It allows people an opportunity to have their own control to improve the health (WHO, 1986).
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It is done with the partnership with the stakeholders (Allison et al,2008). Instead of all the efforts, there are few determinants like social, economic and environment which make an individual act irrationally by shaping their health beliefs (Tones,1987). The Marmot review, (Marmot,2010) also provides evidence that how social determinants affects the health. Therefore, it is important to have an individual focus approach to improve decision making through the provision of information about cost, benefit, and risk (Baggot,2011).
Providing health services to everyone prioritizing treatment based on their effectiveness is the main goal.
Health inequalities being more of political issue ( BMJ ,2019) need government interference. In UK, under The- Education act, local authorities have the duty of providing care for skin and dental problems in school children (Leff and Leff, 1959; Henderson,1975), others are Maternity and Child welfare act providing care to expected and nursing mother (Frazer 1950, p.412). However, in India quality of health services are not accessible to all due to mixed health- care system inclusive of public and private provider.
Health protection focuses on specific efforts that are aimed to reduce the development and severity of chronic, infectious diseases, occupational health and other environmental threats to health, with effective collaboration of experts. It includes screening, immunization or a wider range of interventions such as imposing taxation and regulation on potentially harmful products (Yarrow, 1986). It is believed that prevention is better than cure, however, it may involve economic burden and intervenes with individual choices and liberty. For instance; Health of the national strategy (Cm 1986, 1992) was adopted by the government to reduce smoking but unfortunately, the target was proved to be difficult to approach and trend moved in the opposite direction for teenage girls, despite the investment of government fund on the anti-smoking advertising campaign. Whereas, policies like tobacco advertisement bans (DoH,1992) were effective in reducing smoking.
The predisposition to suffer damage due to external events that harm human life, property or activity to the extent that exceeds the capacity of adjustment of the community is known as a disaster (WHO, 2002). India being a huge country, is highly vulnerable to natural disasters. According to world risk report (2016) published by (UNU-EHS), it has been ranked 77th among 171 countries on the world risk index. Odisha is a state located in India along the coastline of Bay of Bengal. It is the 8th largest state by area and 11th largest in population as per the 2016 census. Due to its geo-climatic condition natural disasters are common in Odisha, few of them are cyclone in 1999 taking more than 10,000 lives and 2013 accounted for 40 lives. National disaster management authority was found in India to take care of disaster management with disaster response force, national and state disaster fund, along with health professionals, military, police, Red Cross Society and other local and central authorities.
In May 2019, severe Cyclone storm Fani hit Odisha with winds reaching to 200Km/hr in some areas, leading to landfall and heavy rain (BBC,2019). It affected at least 16 million people and 14 districts, the number of casualties reported was 43, more than 189,000 houses were damaged, farmlands and crops destroyed on a large extent (Indian Red Cross Society, 2019).
Initially, Indian Metrological department tracked the storm and issued numerous yellow warnings for much of the south eastern part of India. As a first responder, government of Odisha, national disaster response force (NDRF), Odisha disaster rapid action force (ODRAF) took the charge, who mitigated and evacuated residents from vulnerable coastal areas and moved them into safe shelters and higher ground with the arrangement of food and medicine by army and health professional for evacuees (PTI United Nations, 2019). Media, text messages and sirens were used to communicate the message. UN agency for disaster reduction (UNISDR, 2019) applauds the team for zero-casualty cyclone preparedness policy which minimized the loss of life validating the effectiveness of Sendai framework 2015-2030 for disaster risk reduction (UNDR, 2015). Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) trained other agencies who were deployed at short notice for supporting response operation and providing the assistance where needed. However, planning and responding on time is hard to achieve even after drilling exercises because it includes an involvement of various agencies sometimes take time to analyse so few of the casualties did happened.
Until 1999, Odisha did not has a well laid out plan for disaster management but after the cyclone hit the place, disaster management authority was formed and plans were put in place by building 900 shelters and forming rapid action force (2001) for the rescue operation and relief distribution. Though it took time to improve disaster management but after learning from previous experiences of cyclones in Odisha, effective coordination, clear communication, and detection of early warning scores by multiagency help to reduce the disaster risk (The Indian Express, 2019). Overall, the successful outcome has offered the world lesson for disaster preparedness and response (The Conversation,2019).
Indian government with number of other partners have signed an agreement for Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) in Climate Action Summit in New York on 23rd of October 2019, with aim to bring developed and developing country together and combine their efforts to reach the goal of disaster-resilient infrastructure by transforming how this is designed, constructed, operated and maintained ( UNDRR-AP, 2019).
The most challenging phase was recovery, where the emergency response unit with army and navy started to conduct search and rescue operations and local authorities providing relief camps and medical help for survivors. Most of the survivors were desperate to get back to their homes and recover what they can. It was a matter of concern as there was massive damage to properties and public infrastructure with no water and electricity. There was a need for maintaining hygiene to avoid an outbreak of disease. The country government in collaboration with the World Bank, United Nations, and Asian Development bank undertook Damage, Loss and Need Assessment (DLNA) report which provided macroeconomically and impact on humans, showing the way for reconstructing and recovery process. Apart from these national NGOs, international agencies, private sectors, and civil societies were also invited for help. After all these, it proposes three pillars of recovery strategy resilient housing, infrastructure. and livelihoods (India Today,2019). There was fund provided by European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operation (ECHO) with International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) to support Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) which are allocated to those disasters which do not give rise to a formal international appeal (ECHO, 2019).
Despite joint efforts by state and central government. it was reported by a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) regarding trouble faced by the affected people in getting adequate food and water supply. In contrast to the claim made by Odisha 's government of providing cooked food and community kitchen, hundreds of residents in few areas protested against this claim and notified the provision of an unsatisfactory Food Safety Program, crowd was handled by police with batons. Therefore, NHRC raised the concern to the chief secretary to assess the matter and redress the grievance of the general public. To accelerate restoration work, government offices in most affected districts were kept open on weekends and to overcome the slow progress of the Telecom sector, Cells On Wheels (COWS) were deployed for cellular connectivity (India News, 2019). Recovery is a steady process and prioritizing things during this phase is essential.
The lesson learned in term of planning from Cyclone Fani is commendable. Future should highlight on disaster preparedness training for the local community of vulnerable areas. Climate-resilient considering climate change and building resilient infrastructure to avoid construction near vulnerable areas. Planting mangrove trees in coastal areas to limit the damage caused by winds and coastal flooding. The need to increase the government budget for disaster management. Building institutional memories to keep reminding people to unite while facing natural calamities, with periodic training to the relevant officials for handling disasters are few of the long-term resilient strategies which can be adapted (Mongabay,2019).
This essay has critically discussed the public health incident management and various steps involve in it.
Case Report Essay: Management of a Public Health. (2021, Aug 06). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/case-report-essay-management-of-a-public-health-essay
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