Steering committee meets in Geneva

The second meeting of the SUMA Steering Committee was held in Geneva, Switzerland last December. Presided over by Dr. Guillermo Rueda Montaña, President of the Colombian Red Cross, this Committee is made up of the following people: Rolando Durán, Executive Secretary, CEPREDENAC; Florence Gittens, Lt. Col., Regional Safety Services, Barbados; Ricardo Cicero, Director of Training, CENAPRED, Mexico; Claude de Ville de Goyet, Chief of the Emergency Preparedness Program, PAHO/WHO; and Edgardo Acosta, Executive Director of FUNDESUMA.

At this meeting, an analysis was made of the conclusions and recommendations of the 1992-1996 evaluation report on SUMA. Version 5.0 of the software, and the future version 5.1 were presented, and CDERA's new "pre-arrival" module was also discussed. The implementation of Phase 11 in the Americas, cooperation with the armed forces, and training and emergency operations were studied. The most significant topic of discussion was the proposal to use SUMA in other regions, under the coordination of the World Health Organization's Division of Emergency and Humanitarian Action.