Washington, September 15, 2010 – The Pan American Health Organization presented a proposal for a clearinghouse for health and disaster information in Haiti, at the National Library of Medicine.  This is a joint project of PAHO and the National Library of Medicine in collaboration with the Regional Disaster Information Center (CRID for its Spanish acronym) for Latin America and the Caribbean. 

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), in cooperation with the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), is working on this special initiative with two important objectives: to provide health and disaster information and knowledge management support to the Government of Haiti, and to facilitate the collection, organization and dissemination of technical and operational information about the emergency and its medical and public health consequences.

The current project will build on the results and achievements of NLM, PAHO, and CRID activities in the Americas during the last decade, particularly the “culture” of disaster information management that has begun to develop as a result of many initiatives, including those supported by the NLM to improve access to health and disaster information in selected countries.