Health in disasters in Iranian schools

Abstract

Iran is disaster-prone country in the world. Lack of awareness and failure to have a proper response to natural disasters cause heavy damages to nations and national assets. Risk management is essential to prevent, intervene, and fight disasters as it can attenuate the destructive effects. The present study reviews studies on health in disasters in Iranian schools with an emphasis on readiness to deal with crises. The study was carried out through a systematic search using keywords in Persian and English in Iranian and international databases such as Google Scholar, SID, Magiran, Web of Sciences, PubMed, and Scopus. The time range of the search included all articles published before September 2020. The reference lists were also checked to find more articles. Totally, 575 articles were found and full-text of 32 articles were examined. After omitting repetitious items, the articles were checked by two independent researchers in terms of inclusion and exclusion criteria so that 15 articles entered the final analysis phases. The target population consisted of students, teachers, managers, and experts of disaster resilience. The articles were mostly focused on earthquake, fire, and structural safety. Implementation of health school models through improving awareness and crisis management knowledge in school officials plays a key role in improving and preserving health in school environment and safety of students. Measures like paying more attention to safety of building and physical space of schools, adding crisis management skills to curriculum as practical educations, informing parents about such risk, and educating students about safety and prevention of risks are recommended.