The road ahead.

Abbreviations: ALNAP = Active Learning Network on Accountability and Performance APCDM = Asia-Pacific Conference on Disaster Medicine CDC = Center for Disease Control and Prevention [U.S.] CIDA = Canada International Development Agency CRED = Centre for Research of the Epidemiology of Disasters GDIN = Global Disaster Information Network HINAP = Health Information System for Advance Planning ICRC = International Committee of the Red Cross IDNDR = International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction IGO = Intergovernmental Organizations IFRC = International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies NGO = Non-Governmental Organization OCHA = Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ODI = Overseas Development Institute PAHO = Pan-American Health Organization SUMA = Supply Management (PAHO) UN = United Nations WADEM = World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine Unless one understands his past as well as fully lives and works in the present, it seems irrelevant to think about the future. So, I went through my past, and came across a thesis written in 1972: it was my first introduction to this field of Disaster Medicine. By reviewing some of what was written then, and connecting it to what you have been discussing during the past two days and with what is being addressed around the world, I hope that the Road Ahead becomes a little clearer, presumably because it already is a Road on which we are travelling together. I have no intention of telling you where I think the Road is, but rather to challenge you to see if you can figure it out for yourselves.