When care coordination meets crisis in conflict and humanitarian settings, humanitarian actors and pediatric clinicians require resources that articulate the best practices that can be used to systematically manage non-communicable diseases (NCD) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This article discusses NCD burden among children in LMICs and offers a brief review of key guidelines, frameworks, and care models that can be leveraged to maximize child health and well-being in the wake of a humanitarian crisis. Special attention is paid to children less than the age of 20.

Purpose:To assess whether exposure to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DHOS) was related to parents' self-rated health over time. Design:3 waves of panel data were drawn from the Gulf Coast Population Impact study (2014) and Resilient Children, Youth, and Communities study (2016, 2018). Setting:Coastal Louisiana communities in high-impact DHOS areas. Participants:Respondents were parents or guardians aged 18 - 84, culled from a probability sample of households with a child aged 4 to 18 (N = 526) at the time of the 2010 DHOS. Measures:Self-rated health was measured at each wave. Self-reported physical exposure to the DHOS, economic exposure to the DHOS, and control variables were measured in 2014. Analysis:We used econometric random effects regression for panel data to assess relationships between DHOS exposures and self-rated health over time, controlling for potentially confounding covariates. Results:Both physical exposure (b = -0.39; P < 0.001) and economic exposure (b = -0.34; P < 0.001) to the DHOS had negative associations with self-rated health over the study period. Physical exposure had a larger effect size. Conclusion:Parents' physical contact with, and economic disruption from, the 2010 DHOS were tied to long-term diminished health.

Purpose: To assess whether trajectories of children’s physical health problems differ by parental college degree attainment in Louisiana areas highly impacted by the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill (BP-DHOS). Design: Three waves of panel data (2014, 2016, and 2018) from the Gulf Coast Population Impact / Resilient Children, Youth, and Communities studies. Setting: BP-DHOS-impacted communities in coastal Louisiana. Participants: Parents of children aged 4-18 in a longitudinal probability sample (n = 392). Measures: Reported child physical health problems from the BP-DHOS, parental college degree attainment, and covariates. Analysis: Linear growth curve models are used to assess initial levels of and the rate of change in child physical unknown. The current study uses 3 waves physical health problems by parental college degree attainment. Explanatory variables are measured at baseline and the outcome variable is measured at all 3 waves. Results: Compared to children of parents without college degrees, children of college graduates had fewer initial health problems in 2014 (b = −.33; p = .02). Yet, this health advantage decreased over time, as indicated by their positive rate of change (b = .22; p = .01), such that the higher education health advantage was not statistically significant by 2018. Conclusion: Children of college graduates experienced a physical health advantage following the BP-DHOS, but this gap closed over time. The closure of the gap was due to the children of college graduates experiencing significant increases in reported health problems over the study period.

This study (1) assessed whether parent health mediated associations between exposures to the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill (BP-DHOS) and child health, and whether child health mediated associations between BP-DHOS exposures and parent health; and (2) assessed bidirectional longitudinal associations between parent health and child health following the BP-DHOS. The study used three waves of panel data (2014, 2016, and 2018) from South Louisiana communities highly impacted by the BP-DHOS. Parents with children (aged 4–18 at the time of the interview) were interviewed based on a probability sample of households. Focal measures included economic and physical BP-DHOS exposures, self-reported parent health, and parent-reported child health. Health measures were gathered at three time points. The analyses included mediation analysis and estimating and comparing effect sizes of longitudinal cross-lagged effects between parent health and child health. Results showed that parent health partly mediated associations between BP-DHOS exposures and child health, and that child health partly mediated associations between BP-DHOS exposures and parent health. Paths from prior waves of parent health to subsequent waves of child health were positive and statistically significant as were paths from prior waves of child health to subsequent waves of parent health. The differences in size of the child-to-parent health effects and the parent-to-child health effects were not statistically significant. This study’s results extend evidence for the post-disaster effect of parent health on child health and the effects of child health on parent health. These findings support the contention that harm to the health of one’s family member following disasters operates as a form of resource loss deleterious to one’s health.

During disasters, emergency shelters play a central role in emergency management, providing both a secure environment and centralized sites for the distribution of information, material relief supplies, and access to health and human services. Despite their importance, challenges such as physical access, public awareness, and peoples’ willingness to relocate limit the impact of both shelters managed by emergency responders and informal locations created by affected communities. This paper presents research conducted as part of a long-term project aimed at designing digital tools to assist communities and formal responders plan and manage emergency shelters. Working with partners in Puerto Rico, we developed and distributed cultural probes in three communities with recent experience of hurricanes and earthquakes to better understand the needs and resources of disaster affected people related to shelter. This approach yielded novel insights that challenge and expand traditional views of emergency shelters and identified several areas where HCI research and design can contribute to the sector.

A growing body of research has demonstrated links between exposure to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DHOS) and negative consequences for well-being in the impacted region. We contribute to this literature by investigating the relationship between exposure to the DHOS (i.e., physical and economic) and subsequent perceptions of the ability to cope with adverse events (i.e., psychological resilience) among adults with children. Doing so advances prior research by (a) providing a direct test of psychological resilience (i.e., the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale) rather than relying on proxy measures and (b) improving on cross-sectional studies by using prospective cohort data to establish temporal ordering between spill exposure and psychological resilience. Data were obtained from the 2014 Gulf Coast Population Impact study and the 2018 wave of the Resilient Children, Youth, and Communities study (N = 481). The analysis used descriptive statistics and linear regression models with adult psychological resilience (10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale) as the outcome of interest. Results showed that economic DHOS exposure held a significant negative relationship with later levels of psychological resilience, whereas physical DHOS exposure did not. These findings inform policy and practice by underscoring links between socioeconomic disaster impacts and psychological resilience in the aftermath of such events.

The historic 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (DHOS) led to public distress regarding potential impacts on children in nearby Gulf Coast communities. Using a community-based South Louisiana panel study of households with children, we examined the effect of fishing industry employment on changes in a subjective measure of general child health and whether economic and physical DHOS exposures played a mediating role. Fishing industry employment had a negative effect on child health compared to other industries. Economic exposure and physical exposure both mediated the effects of the fishing industry on child health, with economic exposure mediating a larger share (49.3%) of the relationship compared to physical exposure (40.5%). The importance of economic oil spill exposure in these findings highlights the significance of social determinants of health at the intersection of disasters and child vulnerability.

This paper examines the physical and mental health of children following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DHOS). A multi-stage sampling design was used to select households for inclusion in the study. Data were obtained from parental interviews (n = 720) in the harder-hit areas of Louisiana in the US Gulf Coast. Three out of five parents reported that their child had experienced physical health symptoms and nearly one third reported that their child had mental health issues since the oil spill. Both direct physical exposure and indirect economic exposure were found to be predictors of physical and mental health issues among the children. Our findings contribute to bridge the research gap on the impacts of the direct and indirect exposures of the DHOS on the health of children. The study underscores the importance of understanding the health and recovery trajectories of children and youth exposed to disasters. Knowledge gained from this study together with the emerging literature on the effect of the oil spill disaster on children can contribute towards more evidence-based public health policies and enhance the recovery of children and their families in the aftermath of disasters.

Disaster exposure is a strong predictor of survivor mental health following large-scale disasters. However, there is continued debate regarding how disaster exposure should be measured and quantified, as well as whether specific types of disaster exposure are more likely to influence certain mental health outcomes like psychological distress or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In this article, we propose the Disaster Exposure Matrix to explain how specific types and levels of disaster exposure are associated with particular mental health outcomes. We use data from the Sandy Child and Family Health study—an observational cohort study of 1000 randomly selected New Jersey residents who were living in the nine counties most-affected by Hurricane Sandy (2012)—to examine how direct and indirect disaster exposure at both the individual and community levels influence the likelihood of experiencing psychological distress and probable PTSD in the two years after Hurricane Sandy. Weighted logistic regression models demonstrate that particular measures of individual-level direct and indirect exposure uniquely influence probable PTSD and psychological distress, respectively. Community-level indirect exposure is significantly associated with psychological distress but not with probable PTSD. Findings highlight the importance of specificity when measuring the effects of disaster exposure on mental health, including separating exposures that occur at the individual and community level , as well as distinguishing those that are experienced directly from the event from those that are indirect and experienced after the meteorological or geophysical event has passed.

The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DHOS) created widespread concern about threats to health among residents of the Louisiana Gulf Coast. This study uses data from the Resilient Children, Youth, and Communities study—a longitudinal cohort survey of households with children in DHOS-affected areas of South Louisiana—to consider the effect of DHOS exposure on health trajectories of children, an especially vulnerable population subgroup. Results from latent linear growth curve models show that family DHOS exposure via physical contact and job/income loss both negatively influenced initial child health. However, the effects of physical exposure dissipated over time while the effects of job/income loss persisted. This pattern holds for both general child health and the number of recent physical health problems children had experienced. These findings help to bridge the literature on disaster impacts and resilience/vulnerability, with the literature on socioeconomic status as a fundamental cause of health outcomes over the life course.

ABSTRACT In August 2017, Hurricane Harvey struck the US Gulf Coast and caused more than US $125 billion in damages in Texas. The loss of lives and the economic damages resulted in an outpouring of support for the recovery efforts in the form of federal assistance and private donations. The latter has supported more creative approaches to recovery. Organizations that normally would not receive funding were able to obtain resources to use in novel manners. Using the framework of Dynes typology to identify groups and their respective structures and tasks, this report from the field analyzes Hurricane Harvey and the financial support mechanisms used to support recovery efforts in Texas, what organizations were funded to do, and where they fit into Dynes typology. The authors close by noting the importance of these emerging organizations and the need to support diversity in funding disaster response and recovery efforts beyond large nonprofit organizations.

Family resilience raises the question of how family units adapt to external shocks. One notable form of such shocks are disasters. Research shows that disasters are occurring with greater frequency and severity throughout the world. Natural and human-made hazards pose an ongoing threat to positive family functioning everywhere, making it difficult to ignore the importance of disaster resilience for research and practice concerning family wellbeing. In this chapter, we examine the issue of family resilience in the context of disaster. We begin by articulating what is meant by hazards and disasters and how that links to family resilience. In doing so, we stress the importance of adaptive capacity and trajectories over time. We then provide an illustration of ongoing research related to the Resilient Children, Youth, and Communities (RCYC) project, a joint venture between researchers at Louisiana State University (LSU) and Columbia University’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP), concerning family resilience in the context of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. We close by outlining considerations for research, policy, and practice.

Structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry techniques are now widely available to generate digital terrain models (DTMs) from optical imagery, providing an alternative to costlier options such as LiDAR or satellite surveys. SfM could be a useful tool in hazard studies because its minimal cost makes it accessible even in developing regions and its speed of use can provide updated data rapidly in hazard-prone regions. Our study is designed to assess whether crowd-sourced SfM data is comparable to an industry standard LiDAR dataset, demonstrating potential real-world use of SfM if employed for disaster risk reduction purposes. Three groups with variable SfM knowledge utilized 16 different camera models, including four camera phones, to collect 1001 total photos in one hour of data collection. Datasets collected by each group were processed using VisualSFM, and the point densities, accuracies and distributions of points in the resultant point clouds (DTM skeletons) were compared. Our results show that the point clouds are resilient to inconsistency in users’ SfM knowledge: crowd-sourced data collected by a moderately informed general public yields topography results comparable in data density and accuracy to those produced with data collected by highly-informed SfM users or experts using LiDAR. This means that in a real-world scenario involving participants with a diverse range of expertise, topography models could be produced from crowd-sourced data quite rapidly and to a very high standard. This could be beneficial to disaster risk reduction as a relatively quick, simple and low-cost method to attain rapidly updated knowledge of terrain attributes, useful for the prediction and mitigation of many natural hazards.

AbstractObjectivesThis study aimed to examine a range of factors influencing the long-term recovery of New York City residents affected by Hurricane Sandy.MethodsIn a series of logistic regressions, we analyzed data from a survey of New York City residents to assess self-reported recovery status from Hurricane Sandy.ResultsGeneral health, displacement from home, and household income had substantial influences on recovery. Individuals with excellent or fair health were more likely to have recovered than were individuals with poor health. Those with high and middle income were more likely to have recovered than were those with low income. Also, individuals who had not experienced a decrease in household income following Hurricane Sandy had higher odds of recovery than the odds for those with decreased income. Additionally, displacement from the home decreased the odds of recovery. Individuals who applied for assistance from the Build it Back program and the Federal Emergency Management Agency had lower odds of recovering than did those who did not apply.ConclusionsThe study outlines the critical importance of health and socioeconomic factors in long-term disaster recovery and highlights the need for increased consideration of those factors in post-disaster interventions and recovery monitoring. More research is needed to assess the effectiveness of state and federal assistance programs, particularly among disadvantaged populations. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:172–175)