[O2-18]
Participatory Monitoring of Health Security by Nurses for Disaster Risk Reduction

[O2-18-01] Participatory Monitoring of Health Security by Nurses for Disaster Risk Reduction

Sushila Paudel⁴, *Sakiko Kanbara¹, Ma. Regina E. Estuar², Shoko Miyagawa³, Hyeon Ju Lee¹, Ngatu Rogers⁵ (1. Univ. of Kochi, Japan, 2. Ateneo de Manila Univ., Philippines, 3. Keio Univ., Japan, 4. Nursing Association of Nepal, 5. Congo Heiwa Mura, Congo)

Keywords:Participatory monitoring, Health Security, Nursing, GIS

In this session, 6 presenters from RC Congo, the Philippines, Nepal, and Japan will present the conceptual framework, theoretical approaches, and health security related practices toward disaster risk reduction through a case project called EpiNurse Nepal. Based on concepts from epidemiology and nursing, EpiNurse was established among local nurses who act as the main informants of health monitoring. They function as health security keepers in communities where health services are scarce. Local nurses understand the language, culture, and needs and resources of their community; they can assess the living environment, identify high risk populations and needs, help restore public health in post-disaster conditions, and communicate information with concerned authorities at the local and national level, “leaving no one behind”. In Nepal, EpiNurse was launched immediately after the 2015 earthquake. Geospatial information technology for community nursing was incorporated. This is an innovative approach to an early health risk case findings. Monitoring was conducted by trained local nurses using the toolkit for 4 months at 24 camps in 10 affected districts. This local participatory approach helps in visualizing disaster health risks to monitoring in line with Sendai Framework for disaster risk reduction, sustainable development goals and promote sustainable human security. This initiative was endowed with funding from Munich Re Foundation as the winner of “Risk Award 2017”. To sustain globally, the toolkits and manuals are revised taking considerations into global standards such as WHO Minimum data set; ICN disaster nursing competencies; sphere standard, and setting them as an open source.