Disaster risk reduction and health in the Asia-Pacific region

The document finds that while Asia-Pacific policies increasingly recognize synergies between disaster risk reduction (DRR) and health, integration primarily focuses on cross-sectoral coordination and protecting medical infrastructure during disasters. It argues that policies fail to sufficiently prioritize public health as a proactive risk reduction strategy and largely neglect the specific roles of human rights and gender equality at the intersection of these two sectors.

• Policies in the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly recognizing the synergies between disaster risk reduction and health, primarily utilizing cross-sectoral collaboration and coordination as the main methods for integration.
• Integration efforts currently focus heavily on protecting health outcomes and medical facilities after a disaster occurs, rather than using public health management as a proactive strategy to reduce vulnerability.
• Despite being listed as guiding principles, gender equality and human rights are largely ignored when disaster risk reduction policies address health issues and vice versa.
• Regional health frameworks in the Asia-Pacific have aligned with global trends by adopting an 'all-hazards approach,' expanding their scope beyond biological hazards to include natural and human-made disasters.
• Several disaster risk reduction policies in the region still fail to specifically address biological hazards or pandemics as drivers of risk, including the ASEAN Vision 2025 on Disaster Management and policies from SAARC and the Pacific Community.
• The Post-2015 DRR Framework for SAARC Region is the only reviewed policy that recognizes the agency and leadership of women in both health and disaster risk reduction, though it lacks nuance regarding other gender identities.

APA

Tran, M. (2022). Disaster risk reduction and health in the Asia-Pacific region. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/disaster-risk-policy-asia-pacific-seibrief.pdf

Chicago

Tran, Minh. Disaster risk reduction and health in the Asia-Pacific region. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2022. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/disaster-risk-policy-asia-pacific-seibrief.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Tran |first1=Minh |title=Disaster risk reduction and health in the Asia-Pacific region |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=January 2022 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/disaster-risk-policy-asia-pacific-seibrief.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{tran2022disaster, author = {Tran, Minh}, title = {{Disaster risk reduction and health in the Asia-Pacific region}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2022}, month = jan, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/disaster-risk-policy-asia-pacific-seibrief.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }