Ghana’s public health and legal preparedness for disaster and emergencies

Abstract

Ghana has over thirty separate legislations that provide the legislative Framework for disaster and emergency management as well as the general Administration of public health. These laws include the 1992 Constitution, Emergency Powers Act, 1994, (Act 472), the: National Disaster Management Organization Act, 1996, (Act 517), the National Building Code, LI 1630, the Local Government Act, 1993, (462), Road Traffic Act, 2004, (Act 683), the Quarantine Act, 19 15, (CAP 77) as amended in 1938 and many others that are Provided in Chapter 12 of this thesis. These many laws on a broad, inter-disciplinary area such as public health Administration naturally create systemic and administrative problems in Emergency management and intervention programs. Despite this situation, there has been no attempt to incorporate these many laws into one legislative Instrument or even by reference to each other Additionally, Ghana’s public health legislations on disaster and emergency Management have not been reviewed since 1996. The review process could have been initiated, when the nation first created its National Disaster Management Organization, (NADMO). This would have helped to determine whether or not the laws are adequate to address the needs of the nation in the face of rapid Economic development, the spread of human settlements and increased Population. In the interim, the nation has experienced quite a number of limited and localized regional emergencies such as seasonal flooding. Civil unrest, and Bushfires that have confounded the national emergency responses and intervention programs to these limited emergencies. Which have rather short lifespan in terms of the the threat they posed to life, property and economic progress the outcome from these experiences is the exposure of the apparent weaknesses of the national emergency preparedness programs en masse. This development has raised public health concerns as 10 what would be the national response in the case of a major natural emergency such as an earthquake with characteristically long lifespan in terms of the threat it poses 10 human settlements and economic progress. A major natural emergency could potentially create mass casualties leading to complications in the health concerns of the communities that could be impacted. Even during these limited and localized district and regional emergencies, the role of the executive in performing the first most critical task of declaring a regional or district state of emergency was muddled by conflict of laws problems., confusion over the constitutional mandate 10 the executive in such situations and the role of NADMO in the coordination of the intervention programs. These shortfalls call for changes in the legislative framework as it currently is. A review of Ike legal framework is., therefore. Required the periodic review of Ghana's public health and legal preparedness for disasters and emergency management, general risk and crisis intervention capabilities is good in helping to identify Ghana's vulnerabilities in managing both natural and human caused disasters and emergencies. Due to rapid changes in economic development, population growth and the spread of human settlements. The frequency of disasters and emergencies have attracted much public attention. Considering the fact that the cost of emergency intervention and the level of damages have been escalating steadily in Ghana in the last eleven years since the creation of the NAOMO in 1996 by an act t of Parliament, the national programs for emergency intervention may have, by now, outlived their effectiveness. The review of the legal framework naturally segues into calls for a series of new approaches to address the apparent weaknesses such as. (1) The role of the executive in the declaration of the State of national, regional and district emergency, (2) consequence management of the impacted area Of the nation after the declaration, (3) the constitutional limitations on the declarative process, (4) the conflict of laws and the management of emergencies, (5) revamping the laws on disasters and emergencies to bring them to the current needs of the Ghanaian society, (6) Conducting quality improvement measures on the organizational and administrative framework of emergency intervention agencies. There is also the need to introduce new programs like. (7) Protecting first responders against third party liabilities, (8) empowering first responders with knowledge, skills and abilities in emergency matters, (9) designing a comprehensive evacuation and resettlement programs for the community, (10) providing the modalities for disaster assistance to businesses and individuals to ensure business continuity. In terms of limiting societal suffering after a major disaster, the law provide for: ( 11) repetitive flood insurance to riparian communities and, (12) enhance the law to address specific disasters that confront the nation and find solutions to such challenges. Due to the inter-disciplinary nature of disaster and emergency management, it tends to overwhelm both the public and the practitioners. Part of this development is attributable to the complex socio-legal framework within which disasters and emergencies are managed. Therefore, there is the need to create an all-inclusive coordinative environment for emergency management. Emergency program coordination, however, is a challenging task which tends to complicate emergency intervention measures. Disaster risk reduction programs and the implementation of a coherent national platform for general risk, disaster and emergency management. By undertaking literature review of other jurisdictions after discovering over 30 various legislation affecting disasters and emergencies in Ghana and comparing them to those of other jurisdictions, it was found further that the national situation was not unique. Incidentally, other nations such as Venezuela. Canada and the United States, had similar legal challenges in their system of laws, but took steps to streamline the legal authorities necessary to handle disasters and emergencies into one legislative instrument such as the Stafford Act of 1988 establishing the U.S. disaster management agency. Federal Emergency Management Agency. (FEMA) Such examples are persuasive authorities for the Ghanaian situation to address the shortcomings identified in the old legislations dealing with emergency management in Ghana effectively, as well as the weaknesses of the national emergency preparedness program. This dissertation found that the specific weaknesses of Ghana's public health preparedness included the lack of a comprehensive program for both crisis management and consequence management after a national emergency as already listed above. The dissertation has provided a list of its objectives and has indicated the research methodology employed leading up to in theoretical legal framework and literature review. It has shown the breadth of information and research on emergency preparedness existing as well as legislation from other jurisdictions with similar socio-economic and political systems as that of Ghana Further research was conducted on the impact of disasters and emergencies on emerging economics in general together with the dual issues of immunity and indemnity of protection for emergency response workers, to ensure that first responders perform their roles without fear of legal suits and the threat of imprisonment. The 2007 floods in the Three Northern regions, Volta and Western regions was used as ease study to illustrate and examine political and legal consequence management of the nation after or during a national disaster. The question of whether or not the choice of model for disaster management organization has a direct impact on emergency preparedness program of a nation was investigated together with the types of disasters facing the nation, including hydro-meteorological, geological, pest, seismic disturbances, environmental degradation, armed conflict. Terrorism, fires, aviation fatalities and many others, I focused a large portion of the time for research and investigations exclusively on airport fires and the national emergency preparedness programs in place as of now, Additional y, the typology of the legal structure under which NAOMO was created, was subjected to review to assess responses of first responders and NAOMO to Act 517 of 1996 to see whether the core members of NAOMO thought the typology Was adequate or not and if not, what was the nature of the recommended organizational typology? This part of the investigation led to additional evidence in support for the unification of thirty odd legislations on disaster and emergency management in Ghana. It was also revealed from the data set that the majority of the practitioners in the field of disaster and emergency management were not well trained necessitating the call for the introduction of emergency and disaster management as an academic discipline into all levels of national education in Ghana. This further led to the need to develop a model act for tile introduction of emergency management education and has also provided a comprehensive blueprint for setting up Standard Operating Procedures and Emergency Operating Centres as a way of improving emergency response in the nation in the interim. At the end of this dissertation, conclusions and recommendations are provided on the issue of Ghana's public health legal preparedness and emergency management