Public Health After Natural Disasters: A Case Study of Pakistan Flood 2010

Introduction

Natural disasters result in several problems for the local people. After an occurrence of the natural disaster, public health is one of the sectors that come into play because of the challenges that come from climatic changes and other factors such as injury. Various reports have shown that public health is one of the most concerned institutions after the occurrence of a natural disaster (Deen, 2015). In the year 2010, Pakistan was struck by a flood that affected more than 20 million people, and more than 8 million need urgent humanitarian interventions. The floods destroyed more than one thousand Healthcare facilities with several Healthcare workers displaced. Water supply and sanitation were a massive problem, and it leads to an outbreak of several water Borne diseases. The event also resulted in the displacement of more than two thousand pregnant mothers (Deen, 2015).

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After this global event, the World Health Organization (WHO) together with its ministry of health in Pakistan, managed to respond to the disaster by controlling the cluster and addressing various emergency operations. The World Health Organization (WHO) mobilized various professional staffs around the globe to offer humanitarian and relief assistance. More than 200 local and national health staff members were profoundly deployed in the regions that were affected. International Healthcare organizations such as the Centre of Disease Control of the US and the International Care Centre for Diarrhoea Disease Research also came into play from Bangladesh. Being that Pakistan was a developed nation, it had Healthcare systems that are well developed that allowed the organizations to respond to the global event in the year 2010 efficiently. Some of the early warning signs of this global event took place in the year 2005 when an earthquake affected similar areas. The local communities who were in a position to help were also involved in relocating the affected individuals.

Impact of Social Attitudes, Race, Class, Gender on Responses to Global Events

Responding to natural disasters from a global perspective requires a compassionate response from various organizations and individuals to the people who are in need. Compassion is one of the key attitudes or elements to all the humanitarian actions as it requires long term awareness of the Vulnerabilities and to help post-disaster strugglers.

Traditionally, poverty has played a key role in understanding the impact of natural disasters and the Pakistan floods in the year 2010 was a key example of this. In the state borders of Pakistan, individuals with low income form the majority. Also, these are the same groups of people who live in marginalized regions that are disproportionately affected by these types of global events. Such people live in areas that are unsafe with shelter facilities that are risky for such events. Hence, in the year 2010, the Pakistan floods affected those who live in poorly constructed housing facilities more than those who live in elite regions of the country (Sadia et al., 2016).

The additional report demonstrates that the occurrence of a natural disaster flood demonstrates the existing gender inequalities and the level of vulnerabilities for such groups of people. Reports by the World Health Organisation demonstrated that the majority of individuals affected in the disaster were women (Bolin & Kurtz, 2018). The report also demonstrates that women who have less access to essential resources and illegal health facilities, especially during a disaster. For example, over 100 pregnant women were implicated in the Pakistan 2010 floods. This is a situation that needed an immediate response from the local and International Healthcare workers.

Barriers to Health Care Services for the People Impacted by Global Disaster Event

There are various barriers that affect health care services. The barriers can come from the perspective of the policies within the nation as well as the cultural beliefs of the population, making it difficult to attend to the affected people. Existing conditions can also make it difficult and act as barriers to the administration of health care. For example, the infrastructure is a massive issue in the service that was given to the people during this global event. The ability to attend to people depends on the available services and the ability to physically access their care facilities. Also, accessing information that regards health care services can be a barrier, especially if there are procedural policies in the country. A group of individuals who can have cultural beliefs against administering health care assistance is also a barrier.

These barriers can be grouped into societal beliefs, institutional factors, and personal barriers (Douthit et al., 2015). Societal barriers focus on stereotypes and prejudices, education and employment level as well as limited understanding of health care services by the society. For example, the health care experts, as well as the government, can decide on the type of people who should be attended to. However, there are instances where people live in areas that cannot be accessed, thereby making them irrelevant in the discussion. On the other hand, institutional barriers can come in the form of different locations for the Health amenities and physical access to the people who are physically challenged. Other barriers include poor communication, Poor administrative policies, and the lack of cultural sensitization. Personal values can include family concerns the lack of physical skills from individuals or psychological barriers. An example is an uncertainty presented by poverty for low-income individuals we do not want to spend on HealthCare as the income can only cover basic amenities such as food shelter and clothing.

The Role of International Health Organizations and Altruistic Organizations in Providing Health Care Services

Every nation is exposed to different types of natural disasters or epidemiological calamities. Therefore, the occurrence of a disaster does not necessarily depend on the level of economic development or its geographical location. A country may be having a heavy investment in Healthcare facilities and all the emergency preparedness but still, suffer greatly from disasters. Many developing Nations may require extra support from different Altruistic Organizations and international bodies. International Healthcare organizations have a massive role to play, especially the World Health Organisation in case of a global epidemic such as the Pakistan flooding in the year 2010. One main function of such organizations is to give the country Support and to improve its capacity to attain emergency preparedness for the local Communities and reduce problems that are caused by the aftermath of the global event.

Such global event disasters present communities with massive problems that have to be handled through emergency preparation. International organizations also give technical methods of mitigating the public against mortalities and distractions in case of a disaster like a flood (World Health Organization, 2016). World Health Organisation is usually assisted by different countries that provide training resources to reduce the risks and improve emergency preparedness. In Pakistan, the world Health Organisation performed operations of state preparedness for the 2010 floods through giving guidance to the local people. Altruistic Organizations also recognizes the establishment of healthcare facilities to assist pregnant women and to give mental and psychological support after a global event.

The Role of the Professional Nurse in Providing Health Care Services Related to the Global Event

Throughout history, the role performed by nurses has been seen as service delivery in the Global community. However, recent studies have shown that it is important for nurses to expand on their services and the role that they play as clinical providers. Professional nurses who work outside the areas where they have been licensed at a global or national level and are involved in health care promotion. They also provide critical information that is crucial to the disaster response. Beyond the role of nurses, professional clinical providers must have knowledge of stewardship and act as ambassadors in the implementation of health mitigation and avoiding Healthcare waste stream. While providing Healthcare services concerning global Events like the one that took place in Pakistan in 2010, the professional nurses have to advocate for the local organizations to give extensive monitoring programs.

These programs assist in case of an outbreak of water-borne disease. Training facilities are important for the local people as they can mitigate against such occurrences. Professional nurses who work in licensed areas are aware of the transformative changes during a calamity. The nurses offer patient-based services rather than giving free service delivery. The main goal of these types of health care delivery is to advance the overall experience of the patients. Professional nurses are compelled to understand social health determinants while they are offering their services (Edmonson et al., 2017). It is this understanding that facilitates collaboration between the policymakers and the nurses to facilitate the development of a strength-based strategy that addresses local national and global healthcare challenges.

References

Bolin, B., & Kurtz, L. C. (2018). Race, class, ethnicity, and disaster vulnerability. In Handbook of disaster research (pp. 181-203). Springer, Cham. http://www.springerlink.com/index/jv142142534j55v2.pdf

Deen, S. (2015). Pakistan 2010 floods. Policy gaps in disaster preparedness andresponse. International journal of disaster risk reduction, 12, 341-349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2015.03.007

Douthit, N., Kiv, S., Dwolatzky, T., & Biswas, S. (2015). Exposing some critical barriers tohealth care access in rural USA. Public health, 129(6), 611-620. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2015.04.001

Edmonson, C., McCarthy, C., Trent-Adams, S., McCain, C., & Marshall, J. (2017). Emergingglobal health issues: A nurse's role. An online journal of issues in nursing, 22(1). DOI: 10.3912/OJIN.Vol22No01Man02

Sadia, H., Iqbal, M. J., Ahmad, J., Ali, A., & Ahmad, A. (2016). Gender-sensitive public healthrisks and vulnerabilities' assessment with reference to floods in Pakistan. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 19, 47-56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2016.08.024

World Health Organization. (2016). World health statistics 2016: monitoring health forSDGs sustainable development goals. World Health Organization.