Health Workers

An English Doctor in Syria: Pity the Children - The Horror I Saw

Sunday, September 29, 2013
In Syria today, there are many storms and relatively few moments of calm. I was enjoying a rare moment of peace, a time to exhale. It was a hot, balmy late afternoon on 26 August and I was sitting on the hospital balcony overlooking the olive groves. The sun was tipping into descent promising respite from its heat. Away from my comfort zone as an emergency medicine doctor in London, I was working in a northern Syrian hospital under the umbrella Hand in Hand for Syria – an aid group – and being followed by a BBC Panorama team, that was looking into the impact of the war on children.

Let Us Treat Patients in Syria

Wednesday, October 2, 2013
The conflict in Syria has led to what is arguably one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises since the end of the Cold War. An estimated 115,000 people have been killed, most of them civilians, and many more have been wounded, tortured, or abused. Millions have been driven from their homes, families have been divided, and entire communities torn apart; we must not let considerations of military intervention destroy our ability to focus on getting them help.

A Human Rights Approach to Health Care in Conflict

Friday, September 27, 2013
Acts or threats of violence perpetrated against medical personnel, patients, facilities and transports that hinder the provision of medical care, contravene the rules and fundamental principles of international humanitarian law when carried out in situations of armed conflict. However, as recent targeting of health workers in Turkey, Pakistan and Bahrain illustrate, there are many situations of political volatility where humanitarian law does not apply.

Third Global Forum on Human Resources for Health

Friday, September 27, 2013
IntraHealth International is cohosting the Third Global Forum on Human Resources for Health, which is sponsored by the Global Health Workforce Alliance under the patronage of the Government of Brazil, the World Health Organization, and the Pan American Health Organization. The theme is “Rising to the grand challenge of human resources for health.” IntraHealth is managing a vital subtheme of the forum: “empowering health workers.”

Don't Shoot the Ambulance: Medicine in the Crossfire

Thursday, September 26, 2013
LANKIEN, South Sudan—The wounded started arriving in the evening. A rusted-out pick-up truck dropped off four young men with gunshot wounds, two with life-threatening wounds to the abdomen and the others with leg injuries, at the 100-bed Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital here. Just hours earlier, the hospital’s team and local residents had been playing volleyball as the sun began to set on a 106-degree day.

PHR Documents Unlawful Use of Force and Tear Gas and Attacks on Medical Community in Turkey

Wednesday, September 25, 2013
The Turkish government has engaged in unnecessary and excessive violence, used tear gas as a weapon on a massive scale, and intentionally targeted medical facilities and staff during the June demonstrations, according to a new report by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). The report discusses how Turkish authorities violated international laws while cracking down on what started as peaceful protests at the end of May over the government’s plan to raze Istanbul’s Gezi Park.

UN: End Impunity for Attacks on Health Workers

Friday, September 20, 2013
The United Nations Human Rights Council should strengthen documentation and accountability for the growing number of attacks on health workers, the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition, a group of human rights, health professionals and other nongovernmental groups said today. At a side event of the Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, speakers from Turkey, Bahrain, and Pakistan described attacks on healthcare workers for providing care to politically unpopular groups, or because the workers witnessed human rights violations.

Targeting the Healers: When Governments Attack Health Workers in Times of Conflict

Friday, September 20, 2013
When the government of Bahrain responded to peaceful protests in 2011 with a barrage of tear gas, birdshot, and other weapons, nurse Rula Al-Saffar rushed to help those in need. She saw abuse against protesters, including the use of live ammunition against a peaceful crowd and the firing of tear gas canisters at close range.

Pages