Evidence-Based Health Assessment Process in Complex Emergencies

Disaster assessment is defi ned as the "survey of a real or potential disaster to estimate the actual or expected damages and to make recommendations for preparedness, mitigation and relief action." In natural disasters, such as rapid onset earthquakes and cyclones, the health consequences are usually the direct results of injury or death. Often, however, the greatest toll on humans comes from the unappreciated long-term secondary effects as seen with slow moving droughts and massive fl ooding. Zwi has defi ned complex emergencies as "situations in which the capacity to sustain livelihood and life are threatened primarily by political factors and, in particular, by high levels of violence." The most common complex emergencies of the past two decades have involved famine and forced migration. Since the 1980s, few famines have occurred that were not human-induced, and many famines catalyzed the onset of complex emergencies.