Research Report: “Integrated Practices for Managing Disasters and Epidemics”

Working in partnership with the French Red Cross Foundation, the RIPOSTE programme has produced a research report on the added value of disaster risk reduction approaches when applied to and integrated into epidemic prevention and preparedness. 

The research mainly consisted of a literature and document review. The literature review explored the international emergence of epidemic and disaster management, specific responses to several epidemics (such as Ebola from 2014-2016, Cholera in Haiti, and Covid-19), as well as current debates and innovations in the field of disaster risk management in relation to epidemics. The document review involved examining the current landscape of actors operating at the crossroads of disaster risk management and epidemics. Twelve interviews were conducted with field practitioners operating at this intersection, to better understand their operational frameworks and the programmes they run.

This report examines past, current, and potential collaborations and synergies between these two major fields of action: disaster risk management and epidemic response.  More specifically, the research addresses a dual “integration” challenge: trans-sectoral (between the fields of epidemics and disasters) and intra-sectoral (within the field of epidemics).  From a trans-sectoral perspective, the study seeks to identify transpositions, synergies and areas of collaboration between epidemics and disasters in the broad sense. From an intra-sectoral perspective, it explores how to coordinate the full “risk chain”, from identification and understanding of risks, to setting up monitoring, prevention, preparedness, alert and response systems, and even rebuilding or recovery mechanisms following an outbreak.