What have we learned? Capacity building for health responses in disasters.

This is a synthesis of the presentations and discussions pertaining to Capacity Building for Health Responses in Disasters of the Conference, Health Aspects of the Tsunami Disaster in Asia, convened by the World Health Organization (WHO), in Phuket, Thailand, 04-06 May 2005. The topics discussed included: (1) Specific goals; (2) Main focal areas, including available training programs, country-specific training programs, targeted technical assistance for training programs, certified training programs, and ensuring that funding is available for training; (3) What has been achieved in building capacity; (4) Challenges; (5) Where capacity building is needed; and (6) Conclusions and recommendations