With disasters, more research on health needed

CEBU, Philippines - More effort is needed to further establish the role of health research in disaster and emergency management but it is equally important to make the public understand the value of the research.

These were two of the points emphasized by Merlita Opena, chief of the Research, Information Communication and Utilization Division of the Philippine Health Research System.

“No matter how important it is, if a research is not properly disseminated, it would be useless,” she said, as she encouraged more researchers to undertake work on the subject.

Enrico Gruet, chairman of the Central Visayas Consortium for Health Research and Development, also emphasized the importance of translating research findings to more understandable and relatable terms. 

“There is a need for more researchers to communicate technical terms to make it understandable to the community,” he said during the Kapihan sa PIA yesterday.

Gruet said there has been a substantive increase in the budget for research in the last two to three years. “The trend is increasing and still we encourage more research in different academic institutions,” he said.

A two-day event organized by the Philippine Health Research System, which will kick off today, aims to provide a platform for stakeholders in health research and development to interact, learn from each other, share information and experiences, and voice concerns to contribute to research-based solutions to health problems, among others.

All plenary and parallel sessions will revolve around key areas like science for disaster preparedness and actions, use of information and communication technology and tools and policies, coordinating mechanisms for service delivery, and role of social media.

Gruet said natural or man-made disasters such as typhoons, tsunamis, hazardous spills, fire, biohazard incidents, acts of terrorism or pandemics can happen anytime and anywhere with little or no warning.

“With the frequency of occurence of these catastrophes, it is about time to acknowledge disaster and emergency health research as an emerging discipline,” he said.  (FREEMAN)