The impact of natural hazards on the health sector in the Caribbean: Implications for health sector planning

In the last decade significant initiatives have been taken in the health sector with the view to better manage and respond to natural disaster emergencies. However, the recent hurricane disasters related to Hugo and Gilbert have highlighted many areas of health sector emergency planning still to be adressed. This paper briefly summarises the impact of recent natural disaster on the health sector in the Caribbean and comments on the performance of the sector during the emergencies. An effort is then made to detail what are the policy and programming issues to be tackled, if desired improvements are to be achieved.The reader may like to see GeoJournal vol. 23, no. 4 (April 1991) on Caribbean Hurricanes