What is EpiNurse?
EpiNurse is short for Epidemiology + Nurses for Disaster Risk Reduction. The EpiNurse Project will equip all nurses with monitoring and surveillance tools to prevent and control infectious diseases after disasters. EpiNurse through its local action believes in managing disaster health risks and its cascading effects.
Professor Sakiko Kanbara, the founder of EpiNurse, extended the project in countries including Japan, the Philippines, Nepal, and Congo. Initially funded by the J-Rapid project with the aim of establishing a strong research collaboration between Japan and other countries, EpiNurse extended to Nepal immediately after the 2015 earthquake to assess shelter status, disaster surveillance and disease prevalence.
Based on SHINEOS+ Philippines, the EpiNurse monitoring tool consists of data collection on Living Conditions, Early Warning and Reporting System (EWARS) and Surveillance in Post Extreme Emergencies and Disasters (SPEED).
Voice of EpiNurses for DRR
Health as a heart of DRR
Sharada Barakoti, EpiNurse
“EpiNurses are the mediators, but community people are keys for making a change. We can make the public realize that good health is a fundamental need of human & attaining it a key tool for DRR; it's our responsibility to make local people aware that they are only the key catalyst for change to get optimum health security and quality life. For this, the active participation of community people is very important that could provide a better health and quality living standard for them. EpiNurse is a very relevant and needful program for a disaster-prone country like Nepal.”
Thakchi Sherpa, EpiNurse
“ Survivors need to take care of themselves rather than relying only on the medications. Thus, along with routine care, I teach them healthy practices to achieve early recovery"
Roshani Shrestha, EpiNurse
"I am no longer the nurse who is only known to work in a hospital setting but also to act in DRR. Epinurse is an innovative approach that I learned to work using different tools, new technology, coordination and collaboration with different sectors to mitigate the disaster risk. This is very important for a disaster-prone country like Nepal"
Urmila Chitrakar, EpiNurse
"The introduction of ICT in nursing care for risk reduction is a great way of information management at pre, during and post-disaster situations. EpiNurse project made an incredible effort to make us competent in using ICT. Now the challenge is, how to build a strong channel to fulfill the needs of disaster survivors so that they can be prepared for the next disasters. In my view, coordination is not only enough. Commitment from each and everyone working for DRR from central government to local is necessary. ”
Would you like to support our efforts?