6. Protecting health services infrastructure
Lessons learned from previous disasters point to the fact that most losses of health services infrastructure have been due to the fact that the facilities were located in vulnerable areas, were inadequately designed, or were not properly maintained. This is partly a function of building standards for health facilities, which should take into account the survival of staff and patients as well as be rigorous enough to ensure that the facilities can continue to function after a disaster. See chapter 4 of the Guidelines for vulnerability reduction in the design of new health facilities for vulnerability reduction mechanisms that must be incorporated in the different phases of the project cycle.
Because hospitals and other health facilities are complex institutions, professionals from a wide variety of disciplines must participate in the project planning and design of facilities that are disaster resilient. Consult chapter 5 of Guidelines for vulnerability reduction in the design of new health care facilities regarding the professional requirements for experts who should be involved in health facility design and construction.
Building Safe Hospitals
