BackgroundThe International Preparedness & Response to Emergencies & Disasters (IPRED) conferences are conducted bi-annually in order to share insights and lessons learned from diverse crises. The aim of the article is to bring the IPRED conferences into better professional attention and to share the main insights that were presented in IPRED IV, which was held in January 2016.Main bodyThe major lessons learned included: Planning, regional/global collaboration and public–private cooperation should be implemented in developing novel technologies. International humanitarian action necessitates coordination between diverse actors concerning all potential threats. Leadership/coordination and decision-making capacities of emergency response leaders should be enhanced to ensure quality of care. Ethics in disaster management: Triage decisions must not discriminate against terrorists, even when attackers and victims are treated simultaneously. Resilience management: Establishing family and community networks increases resilience of individuals and society. Training programs & exercises must be evaluated considering cost–benefits. Human resources: Teams of experts should be transformed into expert teams. Communication: A common disaster-management language needs to be established. Social media is useful due to bi-directional communication. Civil–military cooperation should be established to facilitate a coordinated response including common terminologies and exercises. Animal sheltering: First responders and pet owners are jeopardized if animals are not included in emergency planning. Re-unification of animals with their owners should be included in response models.ConclusionsIPRED conferences provide a platform for sharing insights and lessons learned from diverse emergencies and disasters. The conferences offer a unique opportunity to share knowledge aimed at improving emergency preparedness, networking between various parties, and substantiates the knowledge and experience of all professionals who take part in the proceedings.

a b s t r a c tThe International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) require all Member States to build and maintain the capacities to prevent, detect and respond to public health emergencies. Early detection of public health risks is one of the core functions. In order to improve surveillance and detection, a better understanding of the health system conditions and their influencing factors are needed. The Israeli Ministry of Health/IHR National Focal Point held a workshop to elucidate health system conditions and their influencing factors that enable earlier detection. The workshop methodology employed a stepwise, small working group analysis approach to elucidate the conditions and their influencing factors affecting each stage of recognition, assessment, and reporting of infectious disease outbreaks, at the local, regional and national levels. In order to detect public health risks earlier, the detection process needs to be moved closer to the local communities and start with building capacity within communities. Building capacity and engaging with local and diverse communities requires significant changes in the governance approach and include information sharing, multi-sectoral communication and coordination across various levels before, during and after public health emergencies. Across the regions, low-, mid-and high-income countries seem to struggle more with governance and information sharing rather than with technical capacities and capabilities.

Abstracts -17th World Congress on Disaster and Emergency Medicine Prehospital and Disaster Medicine Vol. 26, Supplement 1 AIIMS basic emergency care course (AIIMS BECC) to address the issue. Objective: To improve the knowledge, skill and attitude of healthcare workers and laypersons in basic emergency care and to identify and train instructors. Methods: Prospective study conducted over a period of one and half years. The target groups were medical, police, fire fighter, paramilitary forces, teachers, school children of India. Provider AIIMS BECC is of one day duration. The contents of the course are cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, chocking and special scenarios like trauma, electrocution, drowning, hypothermia, pregnancy, etc. Course was disseminated via lectures, audiovisual and hands on training. The participants were evaluated by pre and post test questions. Subjects had to score 80% to be successful and those who scored more than 90% were eligible for instructor course. The confidence levels at baseline and at the end of the course were evaluated in policecourses were evaluated on course clarity, course delivery and trainers quality on a likert scale (1 = worst, 5 = excellent). Results: 1614 subjects were trained. 99.81% became providers and 2.6% were trained as instructors. 83.1% were non-medical and16.9% were medical personals. 76.14% were police, paramilitary 0.8%, teachers 1.6%, students 2.1% and mixed groups were 2.6%. The average and modal increase in confidence level among police were 66.14% and 62.49%. Likert scale of ≥ 4 was observed in 90.7% in course clarity, 91.28% in course delivery and 95.26% in trainer quality. Conclusion: Knowledge, skill and attitude of healthcare care and laypersons in providing basic emergency care improved by community emergency care initiative. Instructors were identified for further dissemination of the course. The confidence levels increased among police.

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