Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management (Health-EDRM): developing the research field within the Sendai Framework Paradigm

The intersection of health and disaster risk reduction (DRR) has emerged in recent years as a field of critical inquiry. Health is recognized as an outcome and a goal of DRR, and the integration of both fields is essential to ensure the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030. Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management (Health-EDRM) has emerged as an umbrella field that encompasses emergency and disaster medicine, DRR, humanitarian response, community health resilience, and health systems resilience. In September 2016, an international group of experts met in Hong Kong to assess the current status and potential of the Health-EDRM research field, a research area that these scholars characterized as underdeveloped and fragmented. Key challenges identified include research overlap, lack of strategic research agenda, absence of consensus regarding terminology, and limited coordination between stakeholders. The Sendai Framework provides a useful paradigm within which to shape the research field’s strategic development. The WHO Thematic Platform for Health-EDRM Research Group was established to coordinate activities, promote information-sharing, develop partnerships, and provide technical advice to strengthen the Health-EDRM research field. This group will promote the generation of robust and scientific health research to support the meaningful implementation of the Sendai Framework.