Abstract:
Natural and manmade public health emergencies and disasters have become major challenges around
the globe. Climate change, increasing human population, industrialization, rapidly growing
international trade and tourism, emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases, natural disasters,
rise in acts of terrorism, and other factors further pose a risk to the public’s health. Low-income
countries, which have low human development, are disproportionately impacted by disasters because
of their limited capacity to mitigate, prepare for, and respond to disasters.
