World Health Organizations' Drive for Safe Hospitals

WHO has just launched it's first social media driven effort, aiming to engage 1 million people in the issue of hospitals safe in disasters. This new approach, launched a week back, is part of their ongoing work to make South-East Asia more disaster prepared.

The initiative is spearheaded by a Facebook reaction test application and a simple message: disasters destroy in seconds - WHO needs you to react fast. The app invites people to test how quickly they can respond and to challenge friends to beat their time. Each reaction counts towards building the wave of public support WHO now needs to push decision-makers (who committed to this issue last year) in to making hospitals safe.

South-East Asia faces some of the world’s worst natural disasters. Over the last decade, more than half a million people in the region have died in devastating floods, cyclones, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Health facilities provide lifesaving services in the aftermath of these disasters, yet they often collapse or fail when most needed, when communities have been hardest hit.

With partners like UAP, WHO is working to ensure health facilities are build to withstand emergencies, have contingency plans in place and that staff are trained to help people under post-disaster conditions. This will
save thousands of lives. As a result of coordinated efforts, last year, governments officially committed to ensuring health facilities, old or new, are made safe from disasters. With the help of partners and public
support, WHO seeks to push the same decision-makers and the hospital industry in to taking concrete action to prevent future, needless loss of life.

UAP members are enjoined to consider supporting this important cause. Your help would make a world of difference to this campaign outcome and help move countries forward in this area. Below are both the links to the Facebook reaction tester and website.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Making-Our-Hospitals-Safe-from-Disasters/145906808779351?v=app_118205574899590
www.clickabrick.org