WS 27 - Protecting Public Health following Environmental Disasters

Major environmental disasters are occurring with increasing frequency in high, middle and low income countries around the world. They pose a major challenge for authorities including Environment Protection Agencies and Health Departments. A major responsibility for government is the protection of public health and emergency responders. However decisions about whether to evacuate populations at risk typically have to be made urgently without good data or complete knowledge of likely health effects. This session will present some case studies of air pollution, chemical and radiation hazards, and long term followup after a terrorist attack or hurricane. There are common lessons about community engagement, risk perception and risk communication. Some guidelines will be proposed for ethical conduct of research with affected communities to better inform responses by authorities to future environmental disasters.