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Health is a human right and remains so under all circumstances. It becomes, however, particularly vulnerable in emergency and disaster situations, and even in efficient and well‐meaning relief operations the health rights of victims usually get overlooked, if not downtrodden. Five international conventions or instruments that underpin this right and guide the disaster responder to respect it are put forward for more efficient and more humanitarian disaster management.

A major earthquake causes massive destruction, high mortality, many casualties and protracted health problems. The impact creates immediate medical needs at the epicentre, while secondary health‐related problems are likely to arise in the areas to which the stricken population has moved for safety, or even afar in time and space, should the country′s socio‐economic destabilization cause further deterioration of the health conditions. Epidemiological studies have shed light on the disease patterns following disasters, including earthquakes, and preparedness measures are possible. Discusses hospitals, injury, patient transport, logistics, communications, and disease and treatment problems arising from recent earthquakes, including Kobe.

Argues that a “common language” and standardized terminology are needed if the different governments and agencies, etc., involved in disaster management and response, are to be able to communicate effectively with each other and thus avoid compounding the difficulties involved. Presents a selection of terms from the Civil Protection Multilingual Lexicon, in the nine official languages of the European Community, which has been drawn up to meet this need.

Discusses the origins of the new science of disaster management, which has evolved during the last decade or so from unorganized, ad hoc disaster assistance. Looks at the development of international aid agencies – the Red Cross, the UNRRA and the WHO. Defines disaster and medicine, and highlights three areas where scientific underpinning has been effective and where the scientific basis of disaster management is being strengthened: the scientific approach; epidemiological advances; training for disaster management.

The paper defines Malta’s disaster risks parameter. Various data are given on Malta’s earthquake‐related hazards. By referring to mean damage ratios and death rates, earthquake losses are equated as a percentage of the gross domestic product, and the number of casualties and homeless estimated. Being a small island, the need for foreign help in the aftermath of a large disaster is analysed. Because of the present large number of vacant premises available, the amount of material foreign help required is minimized, as households could be evacuated to other regions of the Island. The above risks could further be minimized if Malta adopts strategic preparedness and mitigation management. Retrofitting of the present building stock is necessary, as is actively encouraging the purchase of disaster insurance, together with preparation of planning tools and strategic choices.

The purpose of this paper is to explore UK healthcare resilience strategies, define gaps and provide suggestions based on international best practice.

The study adopted a pluralistic qualitative research approach to achieve its purpose including: research papers, governmental and non‐governmental reports, code and guidance documents and databases. In addition, two case studies were visited in May 2009: the first was one of the major hospitals in the UK; and the second is a major health facility located at the south of Taiwan. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with the hospitals responsible and/or emergency officers to clarify the strategies setup to respond to emergencies.

The results show that despite the “robust” emergency planning in the UK, many issues could have been avoided if international experience was reviewed carefully. This is due to the failure of not working closer with multi‐disciplinary experts, who provide technical and tactical help and lessons learned from international best practices, in addition to limiting accessibility of experts to information. The study also suggests that climate change must be addressed comprehensively through fusing resilience and sustainability strategies into a more comprehensive strategy of adaptation.

The paper provides a significant contribution in terms of reducing the fragmentation of healthcare resilience‐related work done previously; constructive criticism of UK healthcare resilience strategies and evidence of better practice from local and international facilities which will help in enhancing the resilience of healthcare facilities in the UK and elsewhere in the world.

The purpose of this paper was to study the unfolding of an urgent and extensive decommissioning program in Sweden, focusing on the public’s reactions and their arguments when opposing the decommissioning activities.

The public’s responses were studied through local media. Its content was surveyed and divided into actions and arguments. The arguments were further analyzed and categorized into inductively developed themes.

Protest activities, such as demonstrations, meetings and petitions, were not coordinated, but mostly carried out for withdrawals of unique services and services in remote areas. The public questioned the decision makers’ information, calculations and competence, the adequacy of the consequence analyses and whether the decommissioning activities would lead to any real savings. Patient and public safety, the vulnerable in society, and effects on the local areas were important topics. Thus, it seems the decision makers did not fully succeed in communicating the demonstrable benefits or create clarity of the rationales for decommissioning the particular services. Furthermore, it seems the public has a more inclusive approach to health services and their value compared to decision makers that need to keep the budget.

Decommissioning is an emerging field of research, and this study of the unfolding of an urgent and extensive decommissioning program contributes with evidence that may improve decommissioning policy and practice. The study illustrates that it may be possible to implement a decommissioning program despite public protest, but that the longer-term effects on the health system’s legitimacy need to be studied.

This paper aims to explore any potential link between the corporate issue of a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) with a changed environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting focus as part of a complementary communicative legitimation strategy.

A longitudinal content analysis of the annual reports of three sample Australian corporations was undertaken, measuring changes in ESG disclosure levels and disclosure focus around the time a SLAPP was issued by each sample firm.

This paper provides support for the contention that both the number of ESG disclosures and the type of ESG disclosures changed after the sample firms issued SLAPPs.

A number of limitations are identified within the paper, including difficulties identifying when SLAPPs are initiated.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first investigation of the relationship between SLAPPs and ESG reporting, and this study helps open up a new area of research into how ESG reporting is used by corporations in a strategic manner.

Research on behavioral functioning among Mexican-origin children primarily uses an individual-centered approach that ignores the residential context. In addition, most studies have been unable to consider an important measure of inequality for this population, legal status; and mental health of children with undocumented parents is underexplored. We address these gaps by investigating the influence of parental legal status and neighborhood characteristics on Mexican-origin children’s behavioral functioning using a multilevel approach.

We use data from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Study and 2000 decennial census. Our primary focus is variation in internalizing and externalizing behavior problems among Mexican-origin youth (N = 2,535) with mothers who are undocumented, documented or naturalized citizens, or US-born using multilevel models.

The multilevel results show the importance of considering parental legal status. Mexican children of unauthorized mothers are more likely to exhibit internalizing and externalizing problems than all other groups of Mexican children. Furthermore, neighborhood-concentrated disadvantage is significantly associated with internalizing behavior problems, and neighborhood-concentrated affluence is significantly associated with externalizing behavior problems. In short, the results demonstrate the importance of considering both parental legal status and neighborhood contexts for understanding behavior problems of Mexican-origin children.

Our findings suggest that Mexican children’s mental health outcomes – measured by internalizing and externalizing behavior problems – vary significantly by parental legal status and neighborhood contexts. This study provides important nuances for public policy for health care prevention and interventions.