How many people lost their lives worldwide in emergencies in 2008?

W: A safe hospital is one that is able to withstand the emergencies, withstand floods, earthquakes and strong wind and continue to provide appropriate life-saving functions to protect people, to save life and limbs, to reduce the suffering of people from disasters.
M: Emergencies in 2008 affected 211 million people worldwide and killed almost a quarter of a million. Health facilities also suffered. In China, 11, 000 health facilities were damaged or destroyed in the 2008 earthquake. More than half of the 16, 000 hospitals in Latin America and Caribbean are in areas of high risk for disasters.
W: To commemorate world health day this year, WHO is advocating a series of best practices that can be implemented in any resource setting to make hospitals safe during emergencies. Apart from choosing a safe location for building health facilities and providing solid construction, good planning and carrying out emergency exercises in advance can help maintain critical functions.
M: In some countries up to 80% of the health budget is spent on building hospitals and other health facilities. Rebuilding a hospital that has been destroyed virtually doubles the initial cost. Get a costs little to make existing hospitals function again in extreme events.
W: Experience in Latin America and Caribbean shows that to put a damaged but structurally sound facility will cost no more than 1% of the hospital’s budget but will protect up to 90% of that investment.
M: Health facilities are vulnerable to other emergencies too. Armed conflicts often target health services and cut access to care as does poor preparation for disease outbreaks. Under investment, poor planning and construction and the absence of emergency planning as well as training prevent health facilities from doing their life-saving work.