Dictionary of Disaster Medicine and Humanitarian Relief - Softcover

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S. Wlliam A. Gunn,  MD, MS, FRCSC, FRCSI (Hon), DSc (Hon), Dr.h.c., is a Canadian surgeon and senior international health official involved in emergency disaster management and humanitarian medicine. For many years he was director of the Emergency Humanitarian Operations of the World Health Organization, where he conducted numerous field missions, advised governments and the United Nations, organized high level national programmes, lectured at universities and conducted training courses for disaster managers, services that have been recognized by Honorary Doctorates and other high distinctions. Member of many surgical, emergency and humanitarian organizations, Dr. Gunn was a founder, now President Emeritus, of the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine, is the founding President of the International Association for Humanitarian Medicine, and member of the Academic Council on the United Nations System. Editor of several disaster and humanitarian journals, and author of eighteen books, he has also been head of WHO’s scientific terminology, which explains the multilingual lexicography, standard setting  acknowledgement and recognized authority of the initial edition  of this Dictionary.

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In times of emergency, clear communication is critical to saving lives and preventing further destruction. Operations in the field, negotiations between governments and relief organizations, and planning and training sessions all require collaboration among people from various disciplines using different terminologies. Without a common lexicon, misunderstandings and other communication errors can lead to the loss of valuable time, scarce resources, and lives and during an era marked by climate disasters, warfare, industrial accidents, and threats of bioterrorism, the stakes are increasingly high.

It is in this spirit that the original Dictionary of Disaster Medicine and Humanitarian Relief was assembled, and the same holds true for this timely Second Edition. This practical resource boasts more than twice the number of entries as the first edition: definitions, abbreviations, and acronyms covering all phases of humanitarian aid, from planning and preparedness to rescue and recovery. Its contents have been field-tested across the emergency intervention community, and are as useful in communicating with the media and the public as with colleagues.

This expanded edition of the Dictionary of Disaster Medicine and Humanitarian Relief ably follows its predecessor as an authoritative resource for researchers and professionals in global health, health promotion, public health, public health policy, and disaster management.