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Medical Consultations After Typhoon Haiyan in a Field Hospital in the Philippines

Authors :
Cuesta, J. Gil
Loenhout, J.A.F. van
Banquesio, M.L. de Lara
Mustaffa, M.
Guha-Sapir, D.
Cuesta, J. Gil
Loenhout, J.A.F. van
Banquesio, M.L. de Lara
Mustaffa, M.
Guha-Sapir, D.
Source :
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness; 34; 38; 1935-7893; 1; vol. 14; ~Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness~34~38~~~1935-7893~1~14~~
Publication Year :
2020

Abstract

Item does not contain fulltext<br />INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Typhoon Haiyan partially destroyed the Ormoc District Hospital in the Philippines. A field hospital was established to replace its outpatient department for 5 weeks. We investigated the reasons for medical consultation in the field hospital. METHODS: We described the consultations by sex, age, week, and diagnosis according to the Surveillance in Post-Extreme Emergencies and Disasters system. We compared the number and proportion of upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) with a control season in 2014. RESULTS: We included 6785 consultations, 55.9% from women. The majority of consultations were communicable diseases (88.2%) followed by noncommunicable (7.1%) and injuries (5.6%). Males suffered more often from injuries than women (66.0% vs 34.0%). Consultations due to injuries decreased from 10.0% in the first to 2.9% in the last week. The most frequent diagnosis over the study period was acute respiratory infections (ARIs) (73.1%), of which 83.0% were children. The number of daily URTIs was higher than in a similar 2014 period. CONCLUSIONS: ARI was the most prevalent diagnosis. We recommend ARI treatments being fully accessible after such a disaster. During the first week, injury prevention should focus on adult men. Studies after natural disasters should include control periods to better understand disease distribution, ultimately improving the prioritization in disasters.

Details

Database :
OAIster
Journal :
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness; 34; 38; 1935-7893; 1; vol. 14; ~Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness~34~38~~~1935-7893~1~14~~
Publication Type :
Electronic Resource
Accession number :
edsoai.on1284123788
Document Type :
Electronic Resource