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Impact of the 2011 Revolution on Hospital Disaster Preparedness in Yemen

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2015

Saleem Ahmed Aladhrai
Affiliation:
King Fahad Medical City, Thamar University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Ahmadreza Djalali*
Affiliation:
Center for Research and Education in Emergency and Disaster Medicine - CRIMEDIM, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale “A. Avogadro”, Novara, Italy
Francesco Della Corte
Affiliation:
Center for Research and Education in Emergency and Disaster Medicine - CRIMEDIM, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale “A. Avogadro”, Novara, Italy
Mohammed Alsabri
Affiliation:
Althawra Modren General Hospital, Sanaa, Yemen
Nahid Karrar El-Bakri
Affiliation:
Research Center, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Pier Luigi Ingrassia
Affiliation:
Center for Research and Education in Emergency and Disaster Medicine - CRIMEDIM, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale “A. Avogadro”, Novara, Italy
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Ahmadreza Djalali, CRIMEDIM - Center for Research and Education in Emergency and Disaster Medicine, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale, via Lanino 1, 28100 Novara, Italy (e-mail: djalali@med.unipmn.it).

Abstract

Objective

Hospitals are expected to serve the medical needs of casualties in the face of a disaster or other crisis, including man-made conflicts. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the 2011 Yemeni revolution on hospital disaster preparedness in the capital city of Sana’a.

Methods

The study was conducted in September 2011 and 2013. For evaluation purposes, the hospital emergency response checklist published by the World Health Organization (WHO) was used. Additional information was also obtained to determine what steps were being taken by hospital authorities to improve hospital preparedness.

Results

The study selected 11 hospitals. At the time of the first evaluation, 7 hospitals were rated “unacceptable” for level of preparedness and 4 were rated “insufficient,” receiving a WHO checklist rating of 10 to 98. At the second evaluation, 5 hospitals were rated “unacceptable,” 3 “insufficient,” and 1 “effective,” receiving a rating of 9 to 134.

Conclusions

Unfortunately, this study shows that between 2011 and 2013, no significant progress was made in hospital disaster preparedness in Sana’a. In a disaster-prone country like Yemen, the current situation calls for drastic improvement. Health system authorities must take responsibility for issuing strategic plans as well as standards, guidelines, and procedures to improve hospital disaster preparedness. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2015;9:396–402)

Type
Concepts in Disaster Medicine
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2015 

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