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 WHO/Europe supports Member States in preparing for, responding to and recovering from disasters and other health crises. Activities to strengthen preparedness include assessments, workshops, trainings, technical support and documentation. When disasters strike, WHO works closely with local health authorities to coordinate the humanitarian health response in the health cluster, which involves national and international health partners in jointly responding to the health needs of the affected population. In the aftermath of a crisis, WHO supports recovery plans and reconstruction efforts to facilitate the building back better of affected health systems and communities.

WHO’s technical support to strengthen disaster preparedness and response follows an “all-hazard/whole health” approach.

All-hazard is a concept acknowledging that, while hazards vary in source (natural, technological, societal), they often challenge health systems in similar ways. Thus, risk reduction, emergency preparedness, response actions and community recovery activities are usually implemented along the same model, regardless of the cause. Experience shows that a substantial part of essential response actions are generic (health information in crises, emergency operations centre, coordination, logistics, public communication, etc.) irrespective of the hazard and that prioritizing these generic response measures generates synergies to better address the hazard-specific aspects.

The whole-health approach promotes that the emergency preparedness planning process, the overall coordination procedures, surge and operational platforms are lead and coordinated by an emergency coordination body at the central and local level, which involves all relevant disciplines of the health sector and deals with all potential health risks.