Emergency Operations

Health emergencies and disasters response

The Emergency Operations unit of the Health Emergencies department provides technical and operational support to countries to ensure that emergency-affected populations have access to an essential package of quality life-saving health services. It also focuses on building institutional capacity to respond to emergencies and continuously enhancing the Organization’s systems, policies and processes to ensure a more predictable and effective response to health emergencies.

Major Actions Lines:

Implementation of response operations, including the coordination of the Global Outbreak and Alert Response network (GOARN) and other health partners, such as Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs), NGOs, Red Cross Societies and United Nations specialized agencies.

Development of strategic response and joint operations plans to guide response operations.

Maintenance of full operational capacity of PAHO’s Emergency Operations Center.

Activation and implementation of emergency response mechanisms in accordance with PAHO’s Policy and Procedures of the Institutional Response to Emergencies and Disasters (IRED), including full support to the Incident Management System.

Areas of work

Regional Health Response Team

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Emergency Operations Center (EOC)

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Supply Management

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Major Emergency Response

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Epidemiological Alerts and Updates

Epidemiological Alerts provide information about the occurrence of international public health events which have implications or could have implications for the countries and territories of the Americas; as well as recommendations issued by the Pan American Health Organization.

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Highlight courses

Expansion of services offered in health emergencies and disasters

This course provides information on measures for the reorganization and expansion of health services necessary in the face of increased demand for patient care generated by health emergencies and disasters, or damage to structural or non-structural components that may be caused by events that compromise the operation of health services.

*Available in Spanish

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Incident Management System for Hospitals

This course provides a framework for first responders to implement the Incident Management System for Hospitals to address incidents of any size and complexity.

*Available in Spanish

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