The public health system response to the 2008 Sichuan province earthquake: a literature review and interviews |
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| Authors: | Leesa Lin Isaac Ashkenazi Barry C. Dorn Elena Savoia |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Project Manager in the Division of Policy Translation and Leadership Development, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, United States, and was a student in the Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard School of Public Health at the time of the experiential learning activity;2. Adjunct Professor at Leon Recanati School for Community Health Professions, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, , Beer‐Sheva, Israel;3. Adjunct Professor at the Rollins School of Public Health–Emory University, , Atlanta, United States;4. Associate Director of the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, Harvard School of Public Health and Kennedy School of Government, , Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States;5. Scientist in the Department of Biostatistics and Deputy Director of the Preparedness and Emergency Response Learning Center in the Division of Policy Translation and Leadership Development, Harvard School of Public Health, , Boston, United States |
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| Abstract: | This paper describes and analyses the public health system response to the deadly earthquake in Sichuan province, China, in May 2008. Drawing on an experiential learning project consisting of a literature review and field research, including a series of interviews with medical and public health professionals, policy‐makers and first responders, a conceptual framework was developed to describe the response. This approach emphasises the pre‐existing preparedness level of the medical and public health systems, as well as social, economic and geo‐political factors that had an impact on mitigation efforts. This framework was used to conduct post‐disaster analyses addressing major response issues and examining methods employed during the public health response to the disaster. This framework could be used to describe and analyse the emergency response to other disasters. |
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| Keywords: | crisis disaster earthquake emergency response preparedness public health leadership Sichuan Wenchuan |
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