Over the years I have participated in many cooperative games both at work and with my kids. In particular, we used to play Max where we had to safely get the little critters to their home without Max, the cat, catching them. This meant strategizing, working together and discussing with each other how we were going to get the little critters home and when to entice Max home for some tasty cat treats.
Inspired by Max and also colleagues who have mentioned various games they have played to have discussions about certain topics – climate, heat, floods etc. we also wanted to do the same but for topics centered around health and disasters. Since disasters are increasing in intensity and frequency this is becoming more and more of an area of concern we created a game to raise awareness of health affects associated with different disaster events.
The disasters+health game: how might a disaster affect your health?
This game was designed to promote discussions around health outcomes associated with different disaster events so that emergency responders, health professionals or the general public can think about the outcomes of an event on health.
The game is built on the following two principles:
- Health =A ∩ H ∩ E where A= agent, H=host and E=environment.
- Risk = (HE) x V x CC where H= hazard, E = exposure, V=vulnerability, CC=coping capacity or lack thereof.
Health (i) is based on the epidemiologic triad where the interaction to a disease agent (A) and susceptibility of a host (H) in an environment (E) conducive for a disease. Health risks (ii) are based on the disaster type, intensity and duration (HE) in relation to the characteristics of the host vulnerabilities (v) and coping capacity (cc) of community will either improve or worsen the health outcomes of an individual or population. For examples of HE, V and CC see the notes included at end.
The game is comprised of a set of cards that represent characteristics from each of the three components captured above. The cards in essence create a scenario that stimulate discussions about the health effects from a disaster event.
Each group will receive a random set of cards comprised of host characteristics (x3), event (x1) and response (x2).
- Host characteristics = contains three different characteristics about a host. Their occupation, socio-economic characteristics and health characteristics. These represent the host and their vulnerabilities
- Event = represents one of three hazard types – natural (climate, volcanic, meteorological), conflict, industrial accident or biological.
- Response = coping capacity based on the health-related response in terms of services, medicines available AND infrastructure needs such as water, sanitation, electricity and shelter etc.
The purpose of the game is for each group to discuss health effects based on the information on the cards received. Discussions should be centered around identifying the health effects associated with the event based on the host characteristics and response.
Below are some examples that appeared during one of the game sessions.
Ready to learn more or need a game session? Get in touch we can organise a group session to promote discussions on health outcomes.
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Examples of components considered to be HE, V and CC. Adapted from https://drmkc.jrc.ec.europa.eu/inform-index
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