Health risks of selected mass gatherings in the Philippines in 2015 and implications for public health preparedness

@#<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>BACKGROUND:</strong> Mass gatherings (MG) are events that draw together a large number of people in one or several occasions happening in single or multiple places for a definite period of time. These can lead to different public health risks through exposure to infectious diseases, trauma, and environmental factors. The Philippine Department of Health (DOH) in 2015 participated in special planned events that constituted mass gatherings namely the Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings, the Black Nazarene procession, and the Papal Visit.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>OBJECTIVE:</strong> The study aimed to describe the different health risks arising from the three (3) identified mass gathering events in the Philippines in 2015 and relate them to public health preparedness.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>METHODS:</strong> This was a descriptive study of the health risks arising from the MG events. Sources of data were reports submitted by deployed medical teams to the Operations Center (Opcen) that closely monitored the MG.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>RESULTS:</strong> The study found infectious causes, trauma, temperature-related conditions, and noncommunicable diseases to be the important categories of health risks in the specified mass gatherings. These validated the common health risk categories observed in previously well-studied mass gatherings.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>CONCLUSION:</strong> The study highlighted important health risks and factors for consideration in public health preparedness for mass gatherings in terms of appropriate and effective public health strategies that should be established to minimize health risks and reduce health system impacts of mass gatherings.</p>

Enabling factors, hindrances, and self-perceived level of preparedness of Typhoon Haiyan Emergency Medical Services (EMS) responders

@#<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>BACKGROUND:</strong> Despite the implementation of policies related to disaster risk reduction and management in the Philippines, the response after Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013 was hampered by operational challenges.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>OBJECTIVE:</strong> The purpose of this study was to document disaster response experiences of Typhoon Haiyan from field level emergency medical service (EMS) responders, a key component of the disaster response, specifically the enabling factors and hindrances to disaster medical response activities, including their self-perceived level of preparedness in these activities.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>METHODS:</strong> In this mixed-methods study, 52 respondents identified enabling factors and hindrances to their disaster response and their corresponding self-perceived level of preparedness. In a subsequent focus group discussion, the researchers used the nominal group technique to process the respondents' experiences.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>RESULTS:</strong> The respondents identified factors that enabled or hindered their response activities such as coordination, stress debriefing, infrastructure, and preparedness. Furthermore, an average of 33% of the respondents said they were adequately prepared to deliver the necessary medical services during the disaster response, thus validating previous studies on preparedness and disaster response operations.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>CONCLUSION:</strong> The government should critically examine its cluster approach to disaster response and consider an integrated, inclusive, and proactive approach in disaster planning.</p>