With the publication of a new print edition of its Disaster Publications Catalog, PAHO/WHO renews its commitment to disseminating, as widely as possible, information on the Organization’s publications, training materials and other information resources on emergencies and disasters. PAHO is nearing its 30th year of working with Member States to prepare for and mitigate the effects of disasters on health. Access to this type of information continues to have tremendous technical and strategic value, both in terms of building capacity among the Region’s health professionals and by advancing political and institutional commitments to disaster reduction.  The new English edition of the catalog will be ready by April 2006 and the Spanish version will be ready in February. Both versions have been updated to include all material produced or revised in the last three years.

As soon as any print catalog is issued, it’s safe to assume it will quickly become outdated. That is why the print catalog is published much less frequently and much more emphasis is placed on the online Disaster Publications Catalog, which contains up-to-the-minute reviews of all new materials. The Internet-based catalog has served users well for several years by offering full-text access to a wide variety of materials. However, as the number of publications grows and the scope of the collection broadens, it is becoming more necessary to revamp the catalog and improve its search engine. This process has already begun and readers are invited to watch for the new user-friendly e-catalog on our website, www.paho.org/disasters, in late March or early April. The power of the Internet allows us to multiply and improve access to information. We ask all disaster-related organizations to support this effort by creating links to the online catalog or to specific documents on their own web sites. For more information, please write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..