Pharmacological Preparedness for Flood Disasters: Lessons from the 2025 Hat Yai Floods
Abstract
Flood disasters threaten population health, continuity of care, and health-system resilience, particularly in climate-vulnerable settings. This narrative review examines pharmacological preparedness for flood emergencies, drawing lessons from the 2025 Hat Yai floods following Cyclone Senyar. Relevant literature, disaster-management guidance, and reports addressing flood-related health impacts, pharmaceutical services, and emergency medicine supply management were synthesized. A two-phase pharmacological preparedness framework was developed. The early phase (days 1–10) prioritizes medicines and supplies for acute injuries, gastrointestinal illness, wound and skin infections, leptospirosis prophylaxis, vaccination, and fluid replacement; selected items require substantial surge capacity. The late phase (>10 days) emphasizes continuity of treatment for noncommunicable diseases, mental health conditions, and prolonged infectious-disease therapy. Although the World Health Organization Interagency Emergency Health Kits and Thai Ministry of Public Health guidance provide essential baseline medicine lists, these frameworks should be adapted to local flood hazards, epidemiological patterns, health-service accessibility, population characteristics, and the anticipated severity and duration of disruption. In Southern Thailand, preparedness should include pre-monsoon stockpiling, decentralized emergency medicine depots, demand forecasting for early-phase surge medicines, medication-refill plans for patients with chronic diseases, and cold-chain capacity for temperature-sensitive products. Pharmacists have central roles in estimating medicine needs, procurement, distribution, storage, therapeutic substitution, medication reconciliation, patient screening, and safe dispensing. Context-specific, pharmacist-led pharmacological preparedness can strengthen continuity of care and healthcare-system resilience throughout all phases of flood response.