Health needs of older people post 2005 Pakistan Kashmir earthquake

Background: Limited information was available about the health needs of older people after natural disasters in developing countries. This study aimed to understand and identify the vulnerability and health needs of the older population post disaster in developing countries.

Methodology: A 3 week health need assessment was conducted in Feb, 2006 at Neelum Valley of Kashmir Pakistan, 4 months after the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. Health information was collected for analysis from older people in 3 different settings which included: (1) a border mountainous clinic which served a cohort of 30,000 people, (2) a mobile medical team that served remote areas, & (3) a 700 people internal displaced people (IDP) camp within Muzzafarabad city.

Results: Different health profile was found for older people who faced major accessing issues in health services. Retrospective clinical record analysis in mountainous clinics and IDP camps revealed a lack of strategic planning in dealing with NCD problems which has taken up 9-26% of clinical consultations across all clinical settings. While closer examination of gender health service utilization pattern in conservative rural areas demonstrated service access barriers for older traditional women, older men also experienced service provision discrimination as psychological services had only targeted women and children.

Conclusion: The study showed a general lack of awareness about issues for older people post disaster situations and an absence of strategic implementation of available guidelines. With a global aging of population, it would be important to strengthen medical disaster response capacity in dealing with older people's health issues.