From framework to action: Operationalising the Hyogo Framework for Action in the health sector: Progress, important lessons and way forwards for post-2015 HFA public health agenda in Africa

This article highlights the progress and lessons learnt from the implementation of the 10-year regional strategy for health sector DRM so far and use these to make recommendations for the post-2015 Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) emergency public health agenda in Africa.

The authors propose the following:

1. The contribution of community involvement and participation to the successful implementation of health disaster risk management programmes cannot be overemphasised.
2. To ensure sustainability, health disaster risk management (DRM) interventions should be integrated into longer-term health development programming.
3. The impact of sound evidence on effective strategy and programme development and better health outcomes cannot be overemphasised.
4. A multisectoral approach is required to ensure that health disaster risk management is mainstreamed into the DRM work of other sectors and vice versa.
5. To synchronise efforts, reduce duplication and ensure synergy, the post-2015 public health emergency strategies should be linked to climate change adaptation initiatives.
6. The hospital safety assessment tool is a very simple to use, inexpensive but highly effective disaster risk management tool which can assist hospitals in resource-poor settings.
7. The importance of timely, predictable and sustainable funding mechanism for public health emergencies cannot be overemphasised.
8. Ministries of Health (MOHs), health partners and organisations in the African region should continuously advocate to strategically position health on the top of the post-2015 HFA agenda.
9. Public health emergency monitoring and evaluation systems should be strengthened to ensure that the impact of the health sector DRM strategy is accurately measured.

This document is an input paper of the 2015 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction.