Disaster Management for Nurses, Midwives, and Allied Health Professionals

The Disaster Management course is designed to equip nurses, midwives, and other allied health professionals with essential knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to effectively prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters and emergencies.
In an era marked by increasing natural and human-made hazards — such as floods, epidemics, conflicts, and technological accidents — health workers play a vital role not only in saving lives but also in strengthening community resilience and recovery.

This course introduces foundational disaster concepts and emphasizes the critical functions of health professionals at every stage of the disaster cycle: preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation. It combines theory with practical insights to build competence in disaster risk reduction, emergency response coordination, and psychosocial support.

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, learners will be able to:

1. Define key disaster-related concepts and terminology, including disaster, emergency, hazard, risk, and vulnerability.

2. Classify disasters based on their causes and characteristics, and explain their epidemiological patterns using the Agent–Host–Environment model.

3. Describe the stages of disaster management and apply appropriate prevention and preparedness measures in community and clinical settings.

4. Identify the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders, particularly nurses and other health professionals, during pre-impact, impact, and post-impact phases.

5. Demonstrate knowledge of community participation approaches in disaster management, emphasizing local capacity building and resilience.

6. Provide psychosocial and emotional support to disaster victims through understanding the stages of emotional response and applying appropriate counseling and recovery strategies.

7. Promote sustainable recovery and disaster risk reduction through health education, advocacy, and community empowerment initiatives.

Expected Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, learners should be able to:

• Apply disaster management principles in health service delivery.

• Participate effectively in community-based disaster preparedness and response.

• Support individuals and communities to recover and rebuild after disasters.

• Contribute to policy, planning, and evaluation of disaster management programs within the health sector.