Disability and health-related rehabilitation in international disaster relief

Natural disasters often lead to significant injuries and disabilities, but rehabilitation efforts are frequently overlooked in the initial disaster response. This paper examines the role of health-related rehabilitation in natural disaster relief, focusing on injury patterns, impact on healthcare systems, and disability assessment. The study highlights that the number of injuries in natural disasters has increased over the past four decades. Common impairments include amputations, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and fractures. People with pre-existing disabilities are also more vulnerable during these events. The paper concludes that integrating health-related rehabilitation into disaster response is essential for reducing long-term health problems caused by injuries. However, challenges such as a lack of trained personnel, poor record-keeping, and a lack of established outcome measures hinder effective rehabilitation delivery.

• 1
  Absolute numbers of injuries as well as injury to death ratios in natural disasters have increased significantly over the last 40 years.
• 2
  Persons with pre-existing disabilities are more likely to die in a natural disaster.
• 3
  Lack of health-related rehabilitation in natural disaster relief may result in additional burdening of the health system capacity, exacerbating baseline weak rehabilitation and health system infrastructure.