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An Assessment of Primary Health Care Facilities and Their Preparedness Level in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT)

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Public Health and Disasters

Part of the book series: Disaster Risk Reduction ((DRR))

Abstract

Pakistan is one of the countries that are most vulnerable to climate-induced natural disasters such as floods. For this reason, it is essential that emergency relief services are in a state of preparedness in order to reduce causalities and other damages. Rural health centers could play an important role in this regard, but there is little information available about their current and potential capacities. This chapter assesses the level of flood disaster preparedness of rural health centers in six flood-affected districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan. For this purpose, we collected data on three components of rural health centers’ disaster preparedness, using structured questionnaires from 48 respondents from 19 rural health centers. The study findings show that the facilities at rural health centers are currently insufficient to meet the needs of local communities at times of disaster and that there are significant gaps in all three components of their disaster preparedness. In particular, the staff at rural health centers lack training, and the buildings lack the space, beds, and equipment required for relief work. A SWOT analysis revealed that these centers have much potential to fulfill this role if they were provided with proper infrastructure, trained human resources, and financial resources.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST), No. 219, Ningliu Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210044, People’s Republic of China

    Ashfaq Ahmad Shah

  2. College of Humanities and Development Studies (COHD), China Agricultural University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Ashfaq Ahmad Shah &  Jingzhong Ye

  3. Centre for Climate Research and Development (CCRD), COMSATS University, Park Road, Tarlai Kalan, Islamabad, 45550, Pakistan

    Muhammad Abid

Authors
  1. Ashfaq Ahmad Shah
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  2. Muhammad Abid
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  3. Jingzhong Ye
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Correspondence to Ashfaq Ahmad Shah .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Emily Ying Yang Chan

  2. Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Shonan Fujisawa Campus, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan

    Rajib Shaw

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Shah, A.A., Abid, M., Jingzhong Ye (2020). An Assessment of Primary Health Care Facilities and Their Preparedness Level in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT). In: Chan, E., Shaw, R. (eds) Public Health and Disasters. Disaster Risk Reduction. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0924-7_16

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