AIDS at a glance…

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)

In conjunction with the World AIDS Day on December 1st that was three days ago, I would like to dedicate a post to this blog to raise awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. I am sure many of you know what AIDS is and what HIV is. So I would like to skip the medical and science part and go straight to the awareness and theme of AIDS.

This year, the theme of World AIDS Day is “Universal Access and Human Rights”. World AIDS Day is important for reminding people that HIV has not disappeared and that there are still many things to be done.

AIDS is now pandemic. According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 33.3 million people living with HIV, including 2.5 million children. During 2009 some 2.6 million people became newly infected with the virus and an estimated 1.8 million people died from AIDS.

Global leaders have pledged to work towards universal access to HIV and AIDS treatment, prevention and care, recognising these as fundamental human rights. Significant progress has been made in increasing access to HIV and AIDS services, in spite of that greater commitment is still needed around the world if the goal of universal access is to be achieved.

 A large red ribbon hangs between columns in the north portico of the White House for World AIDS Day, November 30, 2007.

Millions of people continue to be infected with HIV every year. In low- and middle-income countries, less than half of those in need of antiretroviral therapy are receiving it, and too many do not have access to adequate care services.

A 67 m long "condom" on the Obelisk of Buenos Aires, Argentina, part of an awareness campaign for the 2005 World AIDS Day.

The protection of human rights is fundamental to combating the global HIV and AIDS epidemic. Violations against human rights fuel the spread of HIV, putting marginalised groups, such as injecting drug users and sex workers, at a higher risk of HIV infection. By promoting individual human rights, new infections can be prevented and people who have HIV can live free from discrimination and social stigmatism.

World AIDS Day provides an opportunity for all of us - individuals, communities and political leaders - to take action and ensure that human rights are protected and global targets for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care are met.

Therefore, we should start by wearing a red ribbon to promote AIDS awareness and if possible educate the people about the epidemic itself. Besides that, by wearing the red ribbon, we demonstrate care and concern about HIV and AIDS, and to remind others of the need for their support and commitment.

The Red Ribbon is the global symbol for solidarity with HIV-positive people and those living with AIDS.

You could also take your awareness raising a step further by trying to find a local event to take part in. Around the world there are hundreds of activities taking place to mark World AIDS Day, including candlelight vigils, art shows, marches and religious services. If you can't find anything in your area then why not organise an event yourself? When there’s a will, there’s a way. Hehe.

There is an organization called AVERT which has AIDS projects in the parts of the world most severely affected by HIV and AIDS. They are helping the people there deal with their challenges such as extreme poverty, stigma and lack of healthcare by providing them education, treatment and care. The projects also help the orphaned children or otherwise affected by HIV and AIDS.

So maybe you could lend a hand in the fundraising program to help AVERT or maybe donation or sponsorship in helping those who are suffering from the outcome of AIDS.

Lastly, I would like to quote a phrase from my friend, where I would like this phrase to be the ending of my post. “To Care Is To Give”

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_AIDS_Day

http://www.avert.org/world-aids-day.htm

 

CDM2

Comprehensive Disaster Management 2

From the previous post, I mentioned about the 6 main components of the conceptual framework of disaster. In this post, the actions that are derived from the main components like what is their definition, function and description will be discussed and I welcome anyone who would want to post any comment or suggestion on my post. Thank you.

In disaster management, there are 3 phases that forms the framework, which is the pre-disaster phase, during disaster and post-disaster phase. And in these phases the actions derived from the 6 main components of the framework will play their function in disaster managing. The actions are prevention, preparedness, mitigation, resilience, response and recovery.

In prevention, we try to avoid or minimize the hazard. For example, we can do an evacuation. Otherwise, we could also try to prevent the hazard from turning into a disaster by doing selective preventive measures that are useful and effective.

For preparedness, it is a continuous cycle of planning, organizing, training, equipping, exercising, evaluating, improvement activities, and increasing capabilities to prevent, protect against, respond, recover, and mitigate effects of disasters. The actions are preparing a good communication system, preparing the response team, preparing shelter or evacuation plan, stockpiling supplies, trained volunteers (Red Cross, MERCY) and lastly give warnings to the society about the condition of the hazard. In preparedness, casualty prediction is required to anticipate the worst come to worst outcome of the hazard.

As for mitigation, it is defined as an action to lessen or reduce the force or impact of the hazard. The principles of mitigation are to prevent hazard to turn into disaster, reduce the effect of disaster when it occur, and focus on long term measures in reducing or eliminating risk. Mitigation is classified into structural and non-structural measures. Structural mitigation is an engineering measure that deals with the resistance and resilience of the infrastructures, houses, and facilities in reducing the impact of disaster. To increase the ability to face the disaster, non-structural mitigation deals with the awareness of the community, policies from the government and warning system to the community.

In response, there is the mobilization of emergency services and the first responders are to set up an incident command system to coordinate and communicate with other responders. There are many parties that played a role in this action, which are firefighters, police, ambulance, rapid response team, search & rescue team as well as the military soldiers. When this response is conducted as military operation, it is call a disaster relief operation. Vast majority of individuals will die within 72 hours of impact therefore it is of most importance that the victims are to be found within that stated time.

In recovery, there are two sub-actions which are the rehabilitation and the reconstruction. Disaster recovery is the process, policies and procedures related to preparing for recovery or continuation of technology infrastructure critical to an organization after a natural or human induced disaster. Rehabilitation focuses on the improvement and restoration of all aspects of public services and the normalization or the progression of daily life of the affected people. In reconstruction, the redevelopment or development of all infrastructures and facilities are being done to make sure the community affected can regain their daily routine as soon as possible. The recovery process is important so that the community can function properly in order to progress economically, socially, and culturally.

References:

Lecture Notes Block 4.2 (Conceptual Framework of Disaster and Disaster Management, Logistic Management Support, and Preparedness, Response, and Recovery)

A Comprehensive Conceptual Model for Disaster Management

Sohail Asghar, Damminda Alahakoon and Leonid Churilov

Clayton School of Information Technology, Monash University, Australia

CDM

Comprehensive Disaster Management

Ever wonder which government organization is responsible for the management of disaster should a catastrophic event occurred? Or else, instead the private or NGO corporation are the ones who are responsible when there is a calamity? Actually, the body or structure that is responsible for disaster management is known as the CRC, crisis response centre.

This centre is responsible for the management of disaster either man-made or natural. Also, they are the ones who are in charge during the process. They have to coordinate and manage the flow of aid internally and externally. Internal aids are those involved in the fieldwork. For example, the search & rescue teams, medical doctors who are specialize in emergency and disaster medicine, nurses, rescue volunteers, soldiers, paramedics, and many more. As for the external aid, the examples are the NGOs, the central government, the private companies or sectors, and multilateral agencies as well as other organizations.

In Jogjakarta, the crisis response centre in charge is known as the BNPB, Badan nasional Penaggulangan Bencana. They will command the local government (BPBK/KT) and the governor (BPBP) coordinate and cooperate with them in handling their respective districts and regions. Besides that, the BNPB will collaborate with the district health office and the provincial office in aiding the refugees and victims of the disaster. Monetary funding will be provided from the Ministry of Health where the revenue will be relayed to the BNPB for purchasing the resources needed to support the refugees.

The resources are listed in the following:

· medicines

· health supplies / kits

· water and environmental health

· food

· logistic / administration

· shelter-electrical-construction

· personal needs / education

· human resources

· agriculture / livestock

· unclassified / others

Basically, the main thing to handle or manage a disaster is to follow the disaster conceptual framework which has 6 main components. The components are hazard, risk, events, impact, damage and disaster. From there, we can develop a few actions that composed of prevention, preparedness, mitigation, resilience and recovery development to help in the management of the disaster.

Hazard is the physical effects generated in the naturally occurring event. Another definition is a dangerous condition or events that threatens or have the potential for causing injury to life or damage to property or the environment.

Risk is defined as a measure of the expected losses (deaths, injuries, property, economic activity etc) due to hazard of a particular magnitude occurring in a given area over a specific time period.

Event is the realization of hazard. Impact is the contact between an event and society. Damage is the negative result from the impact of an event. After damage, there would be a change of social function where if there is a need of external aid for recovery then it is called a disaster. If there is no external aid needed then it is just an event.

Here I discussed about the 6 main components of the framework and its definitions and as for their respective actions, I will discuss it at my next post. So stay connected with my next post. Lastly, I would like to conclude that practice makes perfect therefore it is better to do the planning, prevention, mitigation and also the management before the disaster happen so that to provide the best service and support to those who require them.

References:

Lecture Notes Block 4.2 (Conceptual Framework of Disaster and Disaster Management, Logistic Management Support, and Preparedness, Response, and Recovery)