The continued professionalization of the humanitarian workforce requires sound underpinning by appropriate educational programs.The international disaster medicine and emergency health community requested the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine (WADEM) develop international standards and guidelines for the education and training for disaster medicine. The Working Group of the WADEM Education Committee prepared and circulated an Issues Paper to structure input on this significant international task. Subsequently, the Working Group facilitated an Open International Meeting convened in Brussels, Belgium, 2004. The “Issues Paper” also was used as a framework to structure this International Meeting, which utilized case studies selected to represent the scope of disaster medicine, and prepared a meeting consensus on a framework for disaster health and for related educational programs.The two-day Brussels meeting attracted 51 participants from 19 countries, representing 21 disciplines.Participants reinforced the need to address the development of international standards and guidelines on education and training in this emerging discipline.Participants supported the view that the term “Disaster Health” suggested a multidisciplinary approach that is a more inclusive contemporary and appropriate term to describe this field, although there were dissenting views.The meeting formulated a consensus view in support of a framework for “Disaster Health”, which included: (1) primary disciplines; (2) support disciplines; (3) community response, resilience, and communication; and (4) socio-political context. The participants considered that this model lends itself to facilitating the development of educational programs in this field and believed that standards and guidelines initially should be developed in the “Core of Disaster Health” for undergraduates in relevant professions, for practicing professionals wishing to expand their practice in this field, and in the “Breadth of Disaster Health” for those wishing to be recognized as “Disaster Health Specialists” as academics, professionals, or policy leaders in this field at a University multidisciplinary Masters Degree level. A community-level and higher-specialist doctoral level would follow.Although the view of the participants was that the establishment of international approval/endorsement processes for education programs may have some benefits, there was less comfort in identifying which body/agency should be charged with this responsibility. The WADEM, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and the World Health Organization were identified as potential lead agents.The outcome of this international meeting is an important step toward meeting the challenge given the WADEM and will be developed further in consultation with the international disaster and emergency health community in order to improve education and training standards and professional practice.

In October 2004, a World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine (WADEM) Seminar was convened in Brusselsby the Education Committee to discuss Disaster Education and Training. During this seminar, it became apparent that there was no single tool available to assess knowledge, skills, and resources within this field. Therefore, a tool was administered to 50 of the delegates to assess if the tool would facilitate information-sharing and curriculum development in disaster health education.The WADEM Education Committee devised a reference scheme for disaster health training and education based on seven educational levels within a framework based on the Bradt model. A questionnaire was developed to answer questions regarding current practices in disaster health education and training, and the perceived barriers to creating an international system of standards, guidelines, and accreditation. The questionnaire was sent to all of the delegates and the responses were analyzed.The questionnaire was useful for information-sharing and curriculum development. Based on the respondents' experience, strategies were put forward for adopting better coordinated framework for disaster health education and training. This questionnaire should be updated and repeated annually within the WADEM. Wider use of the tool is recommended to help evaluate current educational resources in disaster health and in the wider educational field. It could facilitate the development and audit of current and future courses. An international system for education and training should lead to more efficient and coordinated health responses to disasters.

In our paper we will present the IMPRESS Platform tools that have been used for tests and validation purposes in the case of Palermo Demo. The demo has been part of a national Italian field test exercise for civil protection authorities and all related services along. The system validation and tests procedures have been fulfilled in alignment with the authorities remarks. The outcomes and results from each tool in the platform will be described and the added value for the users who worked with them.

and your esteemed colleagues throughout the world who are working together to forge a new direction for this, the most exciting and humanitarian branch of health care. Be a part of the solution for the future of the world!

During Urban Search and Rescue (USaR) operations in collapsed buildings, once the entrapped victims are located the extrication starts. The latter is always time consuming whilst in most cases medical monitoring and support of the victim is needed. Monitoring vital signs of victim is quite important but due to the particular post-collapse conditions of the building (fires, gas leaks, tremors/instability), the preferred method would be remote medical monitoring. In this work a commercial off-theshelf system for victim's vital signs wireless transmission is tested as part of a feasibility study in which non-invasive methods such as breath or sweat analysis can be used for medical monitoring. The capabilities and the limitations of the tested technology are presented and discussed.