Vulnerability index: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Measure of the exposure of a population to some hazard}}

{{Copy edit|date=June 2011}}

A '''vulnerability index''' is a measure of the exposure of a population to some hazard. Typically, the index is a composite of multiple quantitative indicators that via some formula, delivers a single numerical result. Through such an index "diverse issues can be combined into a standardised framework...making comparisons possible".<ref name=app6>{{Cite web |url=http://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/news/events/ccamts/appendix06.pdf |title=The Climate Vulnerability Index:relevance to the Tourism Sector |access-date=2011-06-23 |archive-date=2012-03-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316102207/http://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/news/events/ccamts/appendix06.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> For instance, indicators from the [[physical sciences]] can be combined with social, medical and even psychological variables to evaluate potential complications for [[disaster planning]].

A '''vulnerability index''' is a composite of [[Index|indices]], also referred to as integrated indices, which are quantitative indicators similar to [[scales]]{{dn|date=October 2011}}, which, when entered into a formula, deliver a single numerical result which can be used for triage (prioritization) and policy analysis. Through their use, ““diverse issues can be combined into a standardised framework…making comparisons possible”.<ref>http://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/news/events/ccamts/appendix06.pdf</ref> For instance, variable from physical science can be combined with social, medical and even psychological variables to evaluate potential complications in disaster planning contexts. The developmentorigin of vulnerability indexes as a policy planning tool occurredbegan at the instance ofwith the [[United Nations Environmental Program]]. and oneOne of the participants in the early task forces has also conducted secondary research documenting the evolution of the analytic tool through various stages. The term and methodology then expanded<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.unepmacchomeless.org/ourplanet/imgversn/103pdf/17_mea2ResultsFactSheet-Omaha.htm</ref>pdf The term|title=Homelessness and methodologythe thenVulnerability Index: A proceededGuide to promulgateRegistry <ref>Week Results in the Omaha Metro Region |access-date=2011-06-24 |archive-date=2012-03-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326014638/http://www.macchomeless.org/pdf/ResultsFactSheet-Omaha.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> through medical literature and social work as discussed by [[Dr. James O'Connell]] of the [[Boston Healthcare for the Homeless]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.commongroundjedc.org/?page_idforms/Vulnerability%20Index.pdf |title=789Vulnerability Index: Prioritizing the Street Homeless Population by Mortality Risk |author=Juneau Economic Development Council |date=2009|publisher=Common Ground |access-date=25 May 2013}}</ref><ref name="Padgett">O'Connor,{{cite book James|last1=Padgett Unpublished|first1=Deborah public|last2=Henwood forum|first2=Benjamin F. presentation|Universitylast3=Tsemberis of|first3=Sam SantaJ. Barbara|Santatitle=Housing BarbaraFirst: Ending Homelessness, CaliforniaTransforming 2011Systems, and Changing Lives |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-998980-5 |pages=115–116 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k4x2CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA116 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Rothschild">{{cite book |last1=Rothschild |first1=Steve |title=The Non Nonprofit: For-Profit Thinking for Nonprofit Success |date=11 January 2012 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-18022-8 |pages=33–35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j9hTMV7peD0C&pg=PA33 |language=en}}</ref>

== Basic methodology ==

[[File:Social Vulnerability Index variables grouped into four themes.png|thumb|CDC/ATSDR Social Vulnerability Index variables grouped into four themes]]

The basic methodology of constructing a vulnerability index is described by Briguglio<ref>http://www.unep.org/ourplanet/imgversn/103/17_mea2.htm</ref> and is quite simple and not without antecedents. Different relative importance is assigned to the different factors (weighting). A cumulative [[score]] is then generated. Through application of variable scenarios decision trees can be developed reflecting alternative policy options.Much of the original research has been evaluated by Lino Briguglio and presenters at Oxford, providing a body of secondary source material which is known primarily to workers in specialized areas of development.

The basic methodology of constructing a vulnerability index is described by [[University of Malta]] researcher [[Lino Briguglio]] who developed an economic vulnerability index (EVI) for describing the economic vulnerability of [[Small Island Developing States]] (SIDS).<ref name="Pereira">{{cite journal |last1=Pereira |first1=Edwina E. |last2=Steenge |first2=Albert E. |title=Vulnerability and Resilience in the Caribbean Island States; the Role of Connectivity |journal=Networks and Spatial Economics |date=1 September 2022 |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=515–540 |doi=10.1007/s11067-021-09533-w |language=en |issn=1572-9427|doi-access=free |pmc=8159251 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Briguglio |first=Lino |date=1992 |title=Preliminary Study on the Construction of an Index for Ranking Countries According to their Economic Vulnerability |journal=UNCTAD/LDC/Misc.4

}}</ref> The individual measures are weighted according to their relative importance. A cumulative score is then generated, typically by adding the weighted values. [[Decision tree]]s can evaluate alternative policy options. Much of the original research has been evaluated by Lino Briguglio and presenters at Oxford, providing a body of secondary source material.

== Earlier use ==

A modern concept of a composite vulnerability index grew out of the work of [[South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission]] (SOPAC), [[Fiji]], and the Expert Group on Vulnerability Index Indexes<ref>Pantin, D. (1997). Alternative Ecological Vulnerability Indicators for Developing Countries with Special Reference to SIDS. Report prepared for the Expert Group on Vulnerability Index. UN(DESA), 17–19 December 1997.</ref> affiliated with the United Nations., Inin response to a call made in the Barbados Plan of Action, the [[Alliance of Small Island States]] (AOSIS).<ref name=tr0275>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sopac.int/data/virlib/TR/TR0275.pdf |title=SOPOAC Technical Report 275 |access-date=2011-06-23 |archive-date=2011-10-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002011933/http://www.sopac.int/data/virlib/TR/TR0275.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

ABruguglio prominent observer and participantparticipated in development of the vulnerability index model is University of Malta researcher Briguglio for international organizations of small island developing states.<ref>Briguglio, L. (1992). Preliminary Study on the Construction of an Index for Ranking Countries According to their Economic Vulnerability, UNCTAD/LDC/Misc.4 (1992).</ref> UMUniversity of Malta also hosts the Islands and Small States Institute, Foundation for International Studies,. Other institutional participants included the New Zealand Official Development Assistance (NZODA) Programme .<ref>http: name=tr0275//www.sopac.int/data/virlib/TR/TR0275.pdf</ref> In 1996, the concept of a composite vulnerability index had been tentatively taken up by Commonwealth policy analysts in the Commonwealth but still on only a tentative basis.<ref>Wells, J. (1996). Composite Vulnerability Index: A Preliminary Report. London: Commonwealth Secretariat.</ref> In 1997, official background papers of the SIDS unit reflected the term “vulnerability"vulnerability index”index" at least internally.<ref>United Nations – DPCSD (1997). Vulnerability Index (Revised Background Paper). SD-SIDS Unit.</ref> It was also advanced in Commonwealth channels.<ref> Wells, J. (1997). Composite Vulnerability Index: A Revised Report. London: Commonwealth Secretariat.</ref> By 1997, the term was approved for publication by the staff of the [[UN Secretary- General of the United Nations]] in the SG’sSG's Report on Development of a Vulnerability Index for SIDS.<ref>United Nations (1997). Report of the Secretary-General on the Development of a Vulnerability Index for Small Island Developing States (Advance Unedited Version to be submitted to the Commission for Sustainable Development, Sixth Session, 20 April-1 May 1998, and to the Committee for Development Planning, 32nd session, 4–8 May 1998).</ref> This concept was subsequently adopted by other experts in that field.<ref>Easter, C. (1998). ‘Small'Small States and Development: A Composite Index of Vulnerability’Vulnerability' in Small States: Economic Review and Basic Statistics, Commonwealth Secretariat, December 1998</ref> and explicitly named as such.<ref>Crowards, T. (1999). An Economic Vulnerability Index for Developing Countries, with Special Reference to the Caribbean: Alternative Methodologies and Provisional Results. Caribbean Development Bank, March 1999.</ref>

In a 1999 Technical Report for SOPAC, Kaly ''et al.'' discussed more specially designatedfocused vulnerability indexes. A subsection of that report was entitled “Vulnerability"Vulnerability index – environment”environment" and the report also discussed a newly mintedthe concept of “"[[Environmental vulnerability index]]”".{{citation needed|date=January 2012}}

==Extension of the general concept ==

The [[IPCC]] embraced vulnerability as a key category in 2001.<ref>IMPACTS, ADAPTATION, AND VULNERABILITY/Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability is the most comprehensive and up-to-date scientific assessment of the consequences of, and adaptation responses to, climate change.</ref> A 2002 paper then applied a vulnerability indexing model to analysis of vulnerability to [[sea level rise]] for a US coastal community.<ref>http[https://www.int-res.com/articles/cr2002/22/c022p255.pdf Vulnerability of coastal communities to sea-level rise: a case study of Cape May County, New Jersey, USA]</ref> At a 2008 [[Capacity Building]] Seminar at Oxford, the “Climate"[[Climate Vulnerability Index” had been fully developed and was Index]]"<ref>http: name=app6//www.geog.ox.ac.uk/news/events/ccamts/appendix06.pdf</ref> was presented with an application to the protection of tourist economies, which may be important to small island states and others. By the time of this seminar, vulnerability indexes were established as governance tools. However, despite existing vulnerability assessment methodologies, vulnerability assessments are heavily influenced by data availability, data reliability, extent, scale, rating methods of governancevulnerability indicators, and interpretation of the 'vulnerability' and related concepts. As a result, there are many frameworks and indices available which are attuned to specific systems, areas, or circumstances, rather than a comprehensive definition or framework.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11852-015-0396-6 | doi=10.1007/s11852-015-0396-6 | title=Vulnerability assessments of coastal river deltas - categorization and review | year=2015 | last1=Wolters | first1=Michel L. | last2=Kuenzer | first2=Claudia | journal=Journal of Coastal Conservation | volume=19 | issue=3 | pages=345–368 | s2cid=127950375 | url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==In hazard planning==

The concept has been extended and applied in dealing with risk from natural hazards and the part that population metrics play in making such a situation into a disaster. In the USA this has been done at a county level. And is run by the Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute <ref>{{Cite web |url=http://webra.cas.sc.edu/hvri/products/sovifaq.aspx |title=SoVI Frequently Asked Questions |access-date=2013-01-27 |archive-date=2012-07-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120724053603/http://webra.cas.sc.edu/hvri/products/sovifaq.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> since 2003.

===In medicine ===

In 2005 a "Histopathological Plaque Vulnerability Index" was proposed.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Local Maximal Stress Hypothesis and Computational Plaque Vulnerability Index for Atherosclerotic Plaque Assessment |pmc=1474005 | pmid=16389527 |doi=10.1007/s10439-005-8267-1 |volume=33 |issue=12 |date=December 2005 |last1=Tang |first1=Dalin |last2=Yang |first2=Chun |last3=Zheng |first3=Jie|first4=Pamela|last4=Woodard|first5=Jeffrey|last5=Saffitz|first6=Joseph|last6=Petruccelli

A “Histopathological Plaque Vulnerability Index (HPVI) “ was proposed in a 2005 paper by Tang, ''et al.'', entitled Local Maximal Stress Hypothesis and Computational Plaque Vulnerability Index for Atherosclerotic Plaque Assessment.<ref>{{cite journal|pmc=1474005}}</ref> Thereafter, the term was adopted by Dr Jim O’Connell, who is author of a textbook on healthcare in shelters. From his post at Boston’s Healthcare for the Homeless, the model was adopted by Common Ground, an advocacy organization in New York City which has promulgated its organizing model using the vulnerability index to, Santa Monica, New Orleans, Washington, DC, and what their literature refers to as “Los Angeles County’s infamous Skid Row”. It utilizes only eight key key health indicators puts a chronically homeless person at significant risk of dying. The model is now being adapted to and utilized in Australia, with the on-site support Common Ground personnel and has been used in registry week drives in the “ inner city areas” of Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.<ref>http://www.commongroundaustralia.org.au/index.php/other-initiatives.html</ref>

|first7=Gregorio|last7=Sicard|first8=Chun|last8=Yuan|display-authors=1|journal=Ann Biomed Eng |pages=1789–801}}</ref>

==See also==

{{Portal|Sustainable development}}

[[Host factor]]

*[[Disaster planning]]

[[Epidemiology]]

*[[Emergency medicine]]

*[[Epidemiology]]

[[Emergency medicine]]

*[[Host factor]]

*[[TriageImmunology]]

*[[Infectious disease]]

*[[DisasterMortality planningrate]]

*[[Standardized mortality ratio]]

*[[Mortality rateTriage]]

[[Standardized mortality ratio]]

[[Infectious disease]]

[[Immunology]]

[[Israel Trauma Coalition]]

==Other resources==

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==References==

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vulnerability index}}

[[simpleCategory:Vulnerability index]]

[[Category:Environmental economics]]

[[Category:Demography]]

[[Category:EnvironmentSustainability metrics and indices]]

[[Category:Futurology]]

[[Category:Sustainability]]

[[Category:Public policies addressing homelessness]]

[[simple:Vulnerability index]]