December 12, 2003 - Washington DC, USA. - The Pan American Health Organization's (PAHO) Area of Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief (PED) finds itself in the final phase of the development of the manual: "Management of Cadavers in Disaster Situations" with the help of various national and international experts.

The development of this guide is born from the need for having clear and specific information about the management of cadavers during a disaster. The guide addresses how massive burials and cremations should be avoided under any circumstances and the importance of respecting cultural beliefs and the religious conduct of the affected population in terms of the vigil and final destination of the dead bodies. In addition, the guide stresses the need to exhaust all efforts for identifying the bodies and to locate the corpses in niches, entrenchments or individual nitches, which constitutes a basic human right of the surviving family members.

Dr. Gustavo Iturralde of PAHO's PED Unit, who organized the dialogue and finds himself coordinating the elaboration of the manual stated, "Now is the opportune moment to exchange criteria with specialists from diverse disciplines on the progress and content of the referenced document, while at the same time reviewing the applicability of the information with the countries of the region through this network."

By way of GDLN, a global dialogue was organized which counted with the direct and interactive participation of local participants in Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras and Peru. The dialogue was attended by a combination of representatives from organizations such as, the public ministry, justice ministry, forensic medicine, health ministry, interior ministry, civil defense, Red Cross, international organizations, church, representatives from communities that have suffered great human losses due to disasters, and communication means.

Each country had a speaker who analyzed the chapters of the work: Guatemala analyzed the most relevant aspects of the chapter of Preparations; Ecuador presented the process of corpse identification and provision; the sanitary considerations were addressed by Honduras; Peru spoke on the importance of respecting the cultural beliefs of the ones affected; finally, Colombia emphasized the psychological consequences that the poor management of the corpses can cause on the population and especially on the rescue teams. At the end of the session it was possible to confirm that, with some changes, the guide will cover all the essential aspects to take into account when a disaster situation strikes.

For additional information regarding this event please contact PAHO's Office of Disasters (disaster@paho.org) or to learn of future programs to be offered by GDLN in Health related topics, please contact Carmen Carpio (ccarpio@worldbank.org).