Health Workers

Turkey: A Weekend of Police Abuse. Many Protesters Arrested; Hospital Targeted

Tuesday, June 18, 2013
The Erdoğan government’s use of force in a clampdown on protesters over the weekend has precipitated a deepening human rights and political crisis in Turkey. Human Rights Watch documented a huge wave of arbitrary detentions and police attacks on people who were on hospital premises, as well as on a hospital itself and on makeshift health clinics. With the trade union confederations declaring a strike on June 17, 2013, there were signs of further clampdown on demonstrations in the evening.

Pakistani Militants Shoot Dead Two Polio Vaccination Workers

Sunday, June 16, 2013
Gunmen have killed two anti-polio health workers in north-west Pakistan, police said on Sunday, in the latest violence directed at efforts to eradicate the endemic disease from the country. Two attackers shot the Pakistani health workers, who were on a vaccination drive in Kandar village, said Swabi district police chief, Mohammad Saeed. The gunmen arrived on foot and later disappeared, he added. No one claimed responsibility for the attack. But some militant groups oppose the vaccinations and accuse the workers of spying for the US.

Interview: Syria, Somalia Are Toughest Places for Aid Workers - MSF

Monday, May 13, 2013
Syria, Somalia, Afghanistan, Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of Congo are the toughest places for aid workers, who not only struggle to reach vulnerable people due to conflict, but are also killed for being seen to help opposing groups, the head of medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said.

Getting Killed for Saving Lives

Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Three suicide bombers stormed the office of the International Red Cross in Jalabad, Afghanistan earlier today and at least one guard has been killed. No one has so far claimed responsibility, but al-Qaeda has targeted the group in the past whereas the Taliban has not, according to the Wall Street Journal. The incident follows an attack by the Taliban last Friday on the Kabul headquarters of the International Organization for Migration.

The Immediate Need for a Strategic Post-Conflict Plan for Rebuilding Health in Syria

Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Never having been to Syria, or to an active conflict zone, it is hard for me to fully imagine the types of atrocities that have occurred over the past year. I write this blog post from my comfortable air-conditioned office in downtown Washington DC, and I cannot fully fathom the horrific conditions that Syrians face each day living through a civil war. The graphic images and tear-inducing stories of families being torn apart, children dying in the crossfire, and injured civilians unable to seek proper medical care are hard to digest. The US Government and the international community are faced with a challenging decision of whether or not to intervene with the efforts of the Syrian rebels to oppose the Assad regime.

WHO Suspends Pakistan Operations after Polio Workers Shot Dead

Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Two health workers giving polio vaccines to children were shot dead in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, prompting the World Health Organisation to suspend its operations in the area. Anti-polio workers started being attacked after a Pakistani doctor, Shakeel Afridi, ran a fake polio campaign in the city of Abbottabad to help the United States track down Osama bin Laden, according to a senior health official in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where the latest killings happened.

Video: Johns Hopkins' Leonard Rubenstein on the Attacks on Syria's Medical Personnel and Facilities

Friday, May 31, 2013
The Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Beverly Kirk speaks with Leonard Rubenstein from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health about the alarming attacks in Syria on medical personnel and facilities.

Video: Zaher Sahloul from the Syrian American Medical Society on the Attacks on Medical Personnel and Facilities

Friday, May 31, 2013
Zaher Sahloul from the Syrian American Medical Society talks with the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Beverly Kirk about the dangers that medical personnel in Syria are facing in the conflict that has claimed thousands of lives and displaced hundreds of thousands.

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