Abstract
Background: Floods affect over 85 million people every year and are one of the deadliest types of natural disasters. The health effects of floods are partly due to a loss of access to health care. This loss can be limited with proper flood preparedness. Flood preparedness is especially needed at the primary health care (PHC) level. Flood preparedness assessments can be used to identify vulnerable facilities and help target efforts. The existing research on PHC flood preparedness is limited. We aimed to assess the flood preparedness of PHC facilities in a flood-prone province in central Vietnam. Methods: Based on flood experience, the PHC facilities in the province were grouped as “severe” (n = 23) or “non-severe” (n = 129). Assessments were conducted during monsoon season at five facilities from each group, using a pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire. Data were checked against official records when possible. Results: Nine of the ten facilities had a flood plan and four received regular flood preparedness training. Six facilities reported insufficient preparedness support. Half of the facilities had additional funding available for flood preparedness, or in case of a flood. Flood preparedness training had been received by 21/28 (75%) of the staff at the facilities with severe flood experience, versus 15/25 (52%) of the staff at the non-severe experience facilities. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the assessed PHC facilities were not sufficiently prepared for the expected floods during monsoon season. PHC flood preparedness assessments could be used to identify vulnerable facilities and populations in flood-prone areas. More research is needed to further develop and test the validity and reliability of the questionnaire.
Highlights
Every year, floods affect over 85 million people globally [1]
While this paper aims to describe the process and overall results of assessing primary health care (PHC) facility flood preparedness, certain methodological limitations should be taken into consideration
We have documented our experience with assessing PHC flood preparedness using a self-developed, pre-tested, semi-structured assessment questionnaire
Summary
Floods affect over 85 million people globally [1]. Between 2012 and 2014, floods accounted for 42% of the nearly 40,000 natural disaster deaths, making floods the deadliest type of natural disaster during this period [2]. Indirect health effects result partly from the loss of access to health care. This loss may be due to damaged infrastructure such as roads, lack of medicines and equipment, or the destruction of health facilities. To limit the health effects of floods, attention has shifted from post-disaster management to pre-disaster planning [5], with an increasing emphasis on preparedness [6]. The health effects of floods are partly due to a loss of access to health care. This loss can be limited with proper flood preparedness. We aimed to assess the flood preparedness of PHC facilities in a flood-prone province in central Vietnam. Flood preparedness training had been received by 21/28 (75%) of the staff at the facilities with severe flood experience, versus 15/25 (52%) of the staff at the non-severe experience facilities
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