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Recently, there has been a disturbing increase in the number of natural disasters affecting millions of people, destroying property and resulting in loss of human life. These events include major flooding, hurricanes, earthquakes and many others.
Today the world faces unparalleled threats from humanmade disasters that can be attributed to failure of industrial and energy installations as well as terrorism. Added to this is the unparalleled threat of emerging and re-emerging diseases, with scientists predicting events such as an influenza pandemic.
Human made and natural disasters in 2004 were estimated to have claimed tens of thousands of lives worldwide with economic losses in the order of US$100 billion. The year 2005 further tested the international relief community with ‘unparalleled frequency and scale of natural disaster’; Hurricane Katrina alone having destroyed 300,000 homes, displaced 770,000 people, and cost US $200 billion. Figures for 2006 and 2007 follow similar patterns.
All these events pose unprecedented risks to human health on a world scale which requires a massive effort by the international community. This conference therefore focuses on current global health risks, and how best to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters in order to reduce human health impacts.
It will help participants to understand the nature of global risks, learn risk management strategies to prepare for disruptive events, and identify the best prevention methods in disaster management and public health. It will provide a forum for the exchange of information between leading academics and partners in disaster management.
The Conference is aimed not only at academics, but also at business continuity managers, crisis managers and emergency response workers. It will also be relevant to professionals such as engineers, environmental risk managers, epidemiologists, hazard specialists, health care workers, police and public administrators, as well as security specialists.
Conference Topics:
- Global risks and health
- Chemical emergencies
- Extreme weather events
- Food and water safety
- Natural disasters
- Pandemics and biological threats
- Radiation emergencies
- Terrorism
- Offshore disasters
- Remote areas response
- Emergency preparedness and planning
- Risk mitigation
- Surveillance and early warning systems
- Disaster resilient communities
- Disaster epidemiology and assessment
- Disaster mental health
- Business continuity
- Human health economics
- Recent incidents and outbreaks
- Public health preparedness
Conference papers are reviewed by members of the Committee and other colleagues and selected papers will be rapidly processed for publication in book form. In addition, all papers in the conference book will be permanently archived in the Transactions of the Wessex Institute on our eLibrary site, where they will be available to the international scientific community. Papers presented at Wessex Institute Conferences appear regularly in notable review, publication and databases.
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