Environmental Disasters and Health Problems: Experience from Thailand
Somkiat S
Bureau of Occupational and Environmental Diseases, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand.
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Published: 1 December 2012
ABSTRACT:
Nowadays environmental disasters become one of major public health problems worldwide. Each disaster has an impact to the public, causing many lives and illnesses as well as socio-economic damage. The aims of the paper are to describe the situation of the major flood in Thailand and its impact on public health. In addition, the experience for handling the situation is also included in the study. This is a descriptive study. Information was collected from reports of activities under the Department of Disease Control, especially the Bureau of Occupational and Environmental Diseases. In 2011, Thailand faced the worst flood in Thai history. It affected 11 million people or 2.7 million households from 65 provinces with 919 deaths and 1.4 million millions baht loss. After the occurrence of the event, several governmental and non-governmental agencies responded the crisis. The Ministry of Public Health has roles and functions in responsible for provision of public health services and management. The provision of health services under this circumstance included disease prevention and control during and after the flood, emergency medical services, rehabilitation for full recovery in physical and mental health. The Department of Disease Control had set up a strategic plan and actions, called 2P 2R (Protection, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery). In addition, the incident command system included 7 management teams as follows: 1) Strategic and advisory committee, 2) Operation team for disease prevention and control, 3) Risk communication team, 4) Shelter support and medical service team, 5) Logistic support team, 6) Coordination team, and 7) Monitoring and evaluation team. The major flood caused high numbers of mortality and morbidity among Thai people. The illnesses include injuries, communicable diseases, environmental diseases, and mental illnesses. From our experience of disaster response, the strategy of 2P 2R is an effective strategy. Both good incident command and supportive systems are the key success factors.
Key words: Disaster, Flood, Thailand, Public Health Emergency Response
Health and the Environment Journal, 2012, Vol. 3, No. 3
