Disaster Public Health and Older People

Disaster Public Health and Older People introduces professionals, students and fieldworkers to the science and art of promoting health and well-being among older people in the context of humanitarian emergencies, with a particular focus on low- and middle-income country settings. Older people face specific vulnerabilities in physical, mental and social well-being during disasters. They are likely to experience socio-economic marginalisation, isolation, inaccessible information and a lack of relevant post-emergency support services. Meanwhile, although older people can also significantly contribute to disaster preparedness, response and recovery, their capacities are often under-utilised. Drawing on a range of global case studies, this book provides readers with a theoretical underpinning, while suggesting actions at the individual, community and national levels to reduce the health risks to older people posed by the increasing frequency and intensity of disaster, in particular those resulting from natural hazards. Topics covered range from the health impact of disasters on older people and response to their post-disaster health needs, to disaster preparedness, disease prevention, healthy ageing, global policy developments and the contributions of older people in disaster contexts. This book draws on lessons learnt from previous disasters and targets students and professionals working in disaster medicine, disaster public health, humanitarian studies, gerontology and geriatrics.

Emily Ying Yang Chan serves as Professor and Head of the Division of Global Health and Humanitarian Medicine, Professor (by Courtesy) of the Accident and Emergency Unit, and Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). She also serves as Director of the Collaborating Centre for Oxford University and CUHK for Medical and Humanitarian Response (CCOUC). She concurrently holds academic appointments as Visiting Professor (Public Health Medicine) of Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford and Fellow of FXB Center, Harvard University, and is Co-Chair of WHO Thematic Platform for Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management Research Network. She is author/editor of numerous book titles and articles, including Public Health Humanitarian Responses to Natural Disasters (Routledge, 2017), Building Bottom-up Health and Disaster Risk Reduction Programme (2018) and Climate Change and Urban Health (Routledge, 2019).

Forewords 1. Introduction 2. Principles and Theories: Health and Public Health 3. Principles and Theories: Ageing Population 4. Principles and Theories: Disaster 5. Contributions of Older People to Disaster Mitigation, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery 6. Health Impact of Disasters on Older People 7. Post-Disaster Response and Recovery to Meet Health Needs of Older People I 8. Post-Disaster Response and Recovery to Meet Health Needs of Older People II 9. Healthy Ageing, Disaster Mitigation, and Disaster Risk Reduction: Individual, Programmatic, and Global Policy Levels 10. Challenges and Gaps in Disaster Public Health and Issues around Supporting Older People 11. Conclusion