Disaster Medicine

The Disaster Medicine Task Force is a working group within the Belgian Academy of Pediatrics, set up to understand, monitor and better anticipate the impact of disasters on children. In this way, we aim to prepare the paediatric community in Belgium for the growing challenges of the 21st century.

We bring together paediatricians, policymakers and other healthcare professionals around one common goal: the protection of children in times of crisis.

Why?

Children are one of the most vulnerable population groups in disasters and crisis situations – an observation widely supported in the literature (UNICEF, WHO, The Lancet Countdown). Their physical, cognitive and emotional development makes them extra sensitive to deficiencies in their basic needs (drinking water, food, regularity, shelter, hygiene), as well as external stressors. Their dependence on adults makes them vulnerable to neglect, violence, kidnapping, exploitation, and other forms of child abuse.

In the coming decades, we will see increasing threats on multiple fronts:

  • Natural disasters: drought and floods, storms, forest fires...
  • Military and political conflicts: bring violence, displacement and trauma.
  • Migration and urbanisation: lead to overburdening of healthcare systems and pressure on social structures.
  • Technological sabotage or outage
  • Climate change: causes an increasing increase in temperature, more extreme weather events, and alters ecosystems, with direct and indirect health risks for children.
  • Changes in epidemiological patterns: such as the emergence of new (infectious) diseases in geographical areas where they did not occur before, and the shift from acute diseases to chronic diseases.
  • Social consequences: migration, poverty, food insecurity, mental pressure...

These disasters leave deep scars in the rest of children's lives – physically, psychologically, socially and structurally. Since prevention is better, more efficient and even cheaper than cure, preparedness plays a key role.

Focus on the child

According to the IPCC and WHO, children will be disproportionately affected by climate-related health problems. Our Task Force looks at these challenges from a paediatric perspective. We analyze and investigate how disasters translate into concrete health problems in children:

  • Changing disease patterns:
    → Increase in vector-borne and waterborne diseases such as dengue, chikungunia and diarrheal diseases, due to rising temperatures and extreme precipitation.
    → Respiratory problems and allergies due to increased air pollution, ozone, pollen concentrations and forest fires.
    → Nutritional insecurity due to crop failures and food shortages.
    → Heat-related disorders (such as dehydration and heat stroke), aggravated by a shortage of drinking water.
     
  • Mental health:
    → Displaced and migrated children are at risk of social exclusion, limited access to care, and discontinuity in education and preventive care.
    → Long-term exposure to uncertainty, loss, and trauma leads to an increased prevalence of anxiety disorders, depression, and PTSD in children and adolescents (source: WHO/UNHCR).

  • Social determinant:
    → Reduced access to healthcare, education and basic needs
    → Stigmatisation and exclusion of migrant or displaced children
    → Disasters undermine vaccination programs, chronic care, and preventive medicine, with long-term consequences for infant mortality and morbidity.


What do we do?

Our mission is based on three pillars:

  • Analysis & knowledge sharing
    → Sharing scientific research on the direct and indirect impact of disasters on children
    → Detecting short- and long-term trends and risks

  • Preparation, preparedness and awareness-raising
    → Establishing Pediatric Disaster Response Guidelines
    → Drawing up guidelines for "new" diseases in Belgium
    → Advice to care institutions with an emphasis on children: infrastructure, triage, reception capacity. Striving for a child-centred care system that continues to function effectively, ethically and sustainably even in crisis situations.
    → Education and simulation training for healthcare providers

  • Advice & policy work
    → Bridging the gap between the paediatric world and policy
    → Advocating for child-friendly disaster policies (inclusive measures that structurally anchor the best interests of children) and international solidarity with fellow paediatricians and children worldwide
    → Collaboration with NGOs, governments and academic partners


Building resilience together

We strongly believe in collaboration. Disasters do not require isolated actions, but a coordinated approach between policy, health care, emergency planning, education and youth care.

Children can, with the right support, no longer be passive victims of disasters, but rather resilient agents of change. Our mission is to support them in this, and to ensure that they are recognised as a priority target group in every phase of a disaster – prevention, response and recovery. 

Children, even in the most difficult circumstances, must be able to rely on paediatricians who understand them, protect them, and stand up for their rights.

Documents

Statements