Health in Conflict

Despite aid convoys having reached 18 besieged and 164 hard-to-reach areas with 220 tons of medical and health supplies from January to August in Syria, it has not been enough and the health situation of the country continues to spiral downwards: children are not getting vaccines, pregnant women are not receiving proper care, the injured need more treatment, and 1 in 4 children are at risk of developing a mental disorder.

Honoring ‪#‎WorldHumanitarianDay‬, we are reminded that the majority of the humanitarian ‎work force‬ is comprised of local workers, who face tremendous risks when providing assistance. Investments in the humanitarian system, including health workers, should reflect this reality in order to be more cost-effective.

A new report, entitled “Ambulance and pre-hospital services in risk situations,” sets out ways to make pre-hospital care and ambulance services operating in areas of armed violence safer. The report was unveiled today at the International Red Cross and Red Crescent statutory meetings in Sydney, Australia.

The cold-blooded and premeditated murder of 8 public health workers in Pakistan this week once again brings attention to an issue that is not being adequately addressed: the protection of health care practitioners and allied workers, of health systems’ infrastructure and services, and of health service beneficiaries. Attacks on health care workers, health facilities/services and beneficiaries violate international humanitarian and human rights law. The consequences of such attacks extend beyond the immediate victims: the beneficiaries of the health services, primarily children and their mothers, suffer the effects of the preventable illnesses that occur as a result of the interruption in much-needed health services.

In Bahrain, health workers have been drawn into the conflict that began in February 2011 when protesters called for reform and the government responded with violence. By treating wounded civilians, frontline health workers witnessed the effects of the government crackdown—and quickly became targets themselves. One health worker recently told news outlet RT of her experience. “As a punishment for not obeying the authorities to abandon these patients, all the doctors who were involved in treating these patients, they were arrested. Myself personally, I was abducted from my house at 3 am in the morning, and I was badly mistreated… I was tortured. Later on, after being jailed for almost two months, I was prosecuted, tried in a military court and was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment,” said Dr. Nada Dhaif.