Información de Salud para la Preparación Contra Desastres en Centro América                                                                                              Víctor Cid OCCS/NLM

América Central es altamente suceptible a desastres Huracán Mitch – Octubre 1998 9,000 muertos; 13,000 heridos; 3 millones de desplazados US$5 billones en daños Afectó gravemente Recursos económicos y sociales Servicios de Salud y de comunicaciones El primer desastre considerado Internet-dependiente

Zona de alto riesgo de desastres… Terremotos en El Salvador January/February 2001 Sobre 1,000 muertos y 4,000 heridos Muchos recursos de salud destruídos o dañados Más de US$3 billones en daños

“Administración de desastres es administración de información” El proyecto NLM-OPS “Administración de desastres es administración de información” Información confiable es el recurso más importante antes, durante y después de un desastre. Oportunidad única de colaboración entre la NLM, la biblioteca de salud mas grande del mundo, y la OPS, que tiene como objetivo mejorar las condiciones de salud de la problación de las Américas.

Misión y Objetivos Soportar, reconstruir y mejorar la infraestructura de información de salud de Honduras, Nicaragua, y El Salvador: Entrenamiento de especialistas de bibliotecas de ciencias de la salud en productos de información Mejoramiento de la Infrastructura tecnológica Desarrollo de productos de información

Asistencia Técnica de CRID El Centro Regional de Información sobre Desastres: Colecciona y disemina literatura relacionada con desastres Produce base de datos bibliográfica DESASTRES 15,000 documentos relacionados con desastres Produce productos de información en CD-ROM Consultorías www.crid.or.cr ó www.crid.desastres.net

Centros locales de información Establecidos en bibliotecas médicas y centros de información relacionados Recopilan, organizan y diseminan información y producen productos de información locales Honduras (2), Nicaragua (2), El Salvador (3) Futuros centros en Guatemala y Panamá Forman Red Centro-Americana de Información sobre Desastres

Sitios Participantes - Honduras Centro Universitario Región Norte Facultad de Medicina Universidad de Honduras Seven sites in the the countries were chosen to participate in this project. In Honduras and Nicaragua we are working with the national universities, since they have the capability as well as the responsibility for health information and play an important role in disaster prevention activities in their countries. In Honduras, we are working with the medical school at the National Autonomous University of Honduras in the capital city of Tegucigalpa, and with a branch of the University, the Northern Region University Center, in San Pedro Sula. Here several NLM and PAHO staff are shown with the staff from the library in San Pedro Sula. When we visited over a year ago, the medical school library in Tegucigalpa had one, very slow, computer that could connect to the Internet. In San Pedro Sula they had no computers.

Sitios Participantes - Nicaragua Facultad de Medicina Universidad de Nicaragua The situation in Nicaragua was slightly better and both sites had several computers with slow Internet access. In this country, we are working with the medical school of the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua in Leon and the School of Public Health, located in Managua. Here is a librarian at work using the improved Internet connection provided by the project. Centro de Investigación y Estudios de la Salud - UNAN

Sitios Participantes – El Salvador Centro de Documentación e Información en Salud, Ministerio de Salud In El Salvador we are working with the Health Documentation and Information Center, part of the Ministry of Health, the Center for the Protection against Disasters or CEPRODE, a community organization, and the Medical Library of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of El Salvador. The Health Documentation and Information Center has the primary responsibility for collecting and disseminating health information in El Salvador and CEPRODE has extensive experience working with many organizations providing disasters services in the country. The Medical Library is a major source of health information for academic and research purposes. Centro para la Protección de Desastres Biblioteca Médica Universidad de El Salvador

Actividades Realizadas y Logros Entrenamiento de especialistas de información Mejoramiento de tecnología de información Desarrollo de productos de información Let’s go back to the specific objectives of the project and review our progress. As mentioned earlier, in September 2000, NLM signed a two-year contract with CRID, the Regional Disaster Information Center for $300,000 per year. The purpose of the contract is to assist several of the poorest countries in Latin America rebuild and improve their health information infrastructure in these three areas: the first is the training of health science librarians.

Actividades y Logros - Entrenamiento Tres cursos de entrenamiento a entrenadores Costa Rica (Abril, 2001), USA (Octubre 2001), Nicaragua (Septiembre 2002) Bibliotecólogos, informáticos Entrenamientos locales Centros ahora están entrenando a investigadores, oficiales de gobierno, organizaciones comunitarias, etc. en sus propios paises Let’s go back to the specific objectives of the project and review our progress. As mentioned earlier, in September 2000, NLM signed a two-year contract with CRID, the Regional Disaster Information Center for $300,000 per year. The purpose of the contract is to assist several of the poorest countries in Latin America rebuild and improve their health information infrastructure in these three areas: the first is the training of health science librarians.

Actividades y Logros - Herramientas Instalación de equipamiento informático Honduras, Nicaragua, y Costa Rica (Agosto 2001) El Salvador (mediados 2002) Cada sitio recibio un servidor, UPS, equipos de red, impresora láser, scanner, y dos PCs Conectividad Internet 128K en Honduras & Nicaragua (Agosto 2001) 128K in El Salvador (primavera 2002) 256K at CRID Let’s go back to the specific objectives of the project and review our progress. As mentioned earlier, in September 2000, NLM signed a two-year contract with CRID, the Regional Disaster Information Center for $300,000 per year. The purpose of the contract is to assist several of the poorest countries in Latin America rebuild and improve their health information infrastructure in these three areas: the first is the training of health science librarians.

Actividades y Logros - Productos Biblioteca Digital Multimedia Más de 2400 documentos en texto completo Disponibles en base de datos DESASTRES Productos en CD-ROM Sitio web Motor de Búsqueda Documentos locales Let’s go back to the specific objectives of the project and review our progress. As mentioned earlier, in September 2000, NLM signed a two-year contract with CRID, the Regional Disaster Information Center for $300,000 per year. The purpose of the contract is to assist several of the poorest countries in Latin America rebuild and improve their health information infrastructure in these three areas: the first is the training of health science librarians.

Actividades y Logros - Otros Eventos promocionales (foro en Nicaragua, inauguración de CIDCURN, presentaciones en eventos, publicaciones…) Incorporación de tópico en curriculum educativo Centros trabajando en plan de actividades propio Multiple visitas y asesorías técnicas de CRID Let’s go back to the specific objectives of the project and review our progress. As mentioned earlier, in September 2000, NLM signed a two-year contract with CRID, the Regional Disaster Information Center for $300,000 per year. The purpose of the contract is to assist several of the poorest countries in Latin America rebuild and improve their health information infrastructure in these three areas: the first is the training of health science librarians.

Actividades Actuales y Futuras Desarrollo de “Toolkit” para Centros de Información Expansión de Red Regional Fondos Europeos para incluir Guatemala y soportar centros actuales Actividades de Promoción y Evaluación Desarrollo de Productos de Información Adicionales Soporte a estudiantes de post-grado para mantener sitio web, identificar otros recursos, promocionar centros Soporte Adicional para Recursos Tecnológicos This pilot project has been successful for CRID, the participating sites in all three countries, and NLM. Several Latin American countries have improved their health information infrastructure which in turn may contribute to disaster reduction in their areas by participating in this project and using the resources offered by NLM and CRID. We hope that this pilot project will continue past the three years of NLM funding - PAHO meets regularly with the international donor communities in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. They will use the success of this project to encourage other donors to continue the efforts. In addition, we hope that this project will assist NLM and other libraries in developing models for working with underserved populations with limited access to technology and other resources.

Conclusiones Iniciativa exitosa y beneficiosa para todas las entidades participantes. Beneficios han excedido propósito de proyecto. Actividades de desarrollo continúan. Camino a veces pedregoso, pero muy educativo. Esfuerzo de evaluación y de recopilación de experiencias. Énfasis en sostenibilidad: Migración del programa a administración local, con recursos propios y con soporte de donantes internacionales. Coordinación de esfuerzos es fundamental. This pilot project has been successful for CRID, the participating sites in all three countries, and NLM. Several Latin American countries have improved their health information infrastructure which in turn may contribute to disaster reduction in their areas by participating in this project and using the resources offered by NLM and CRID. We hope that this pilot project will continue past the three years of NLM funding - PAHO meets regularly with the international donor communities in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. They will use the success of this project to encourage other donors to continue the efforts. In addition, we hope that this project will assist NLM and other libraries in developing models for working with underserved populations with limited access to technology and other resources. As Internet costs decrease and connections become easier and the use of information becomes part of the routine, the ability of the participating sites to become self-sustaining or obtain resources from others will become easier.

Equipo del Proyecto Dr. Melvin Spann, Director Asociado, SIS (en ret.) Srta. Stacey Arnesen, NLM/SIS Sr. Víctor Cid, NLM/OCCS Sr. Ricardo Pérez, PAHO Dr. Steven Phillips, Ex-Director Asistente, NLM Sr. John Scott, CPSC Srta. Marti Szczur, NLM/SIS Sr. David Zervaas y equipo de trabajo del CRID Finally, I want to thank and acknowledge the team that has been working on this project, particularly Dr. Melvin Spann who led the effort to initiate and implement the project.