Haiti Pediatric Action Blog
Deploying the Pediatric Emergency Decision Support System (PEDSS)

Overview

The Pediatric Emergency Decision Support System (PEDSS) is a sophisticated analytical tool to generate accurate estimates of injured children in a disaster, and to assist in emphasizing children's special needs. We are adapting the PEDSS earthquake module to Haiti and its disaster profile, thus generating authoritative best-practices-based recommendations on medical supplies, equipment, pharmaceuticals, and personnel requirements for childrens' needs in the disaster.

The Pediatric Emergency Decision Support System (PEDSS) was developed in collaboration with Childrens Hospital Los Angeles' Pediatric Disaster Resource and Training Center, for which Dr. Jeffrey Upperman is the Director and Dr. Robert Neches the Informatics Thrust Leader from USC Information Sciences Institute.

Approximately 35% of Haiti's population is under 15. It's been estimated that as many as a million children were orphaned or abandoned -- even before the disaster hit. Thus, the earthquake is a disaster of the highest magnitude, and children represent a major class of victims.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

News coverage of PEDSS work and Child victims

Articles referring to PEDSS group's work:
AFP: Almost half Haiti's injured may be children: study
Businessweek: Haitian Children Need Specific Relief Efforts
The plight of children is continuing to receive attention:
St. Petersburg Times: Haiti's most vulnerable victims
Haiti was a young nation even before the earthquake, with children making up nearly half the population. Now thousands of them are severely injured, psychologically devastated and orphaned. The United Nations Children's Fund estimates as many as 1 million lost at least one parent in the quake or have been separated from their families.

The disaster has left them in acute peril. Children are less able to fend for themselves for food and water or protect themselves against abuse, assault or abduction. Relief crews are trying to adapt, setting up child-only sections of refugee camps. But thousands still wander the streets. Without question, these victims deserve special attention.

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