Medical

New Report: "Syrian Medical Voices from the Ground"

Tuesday, March 3, 2015
“Working in a field hospital is like death,” said a Syrian general practitioner from Idlib, describing medical practice while under assault from barrel bombs and other attacks. Another doctor from Aleppo recounted, “I cannot forget the sight of amputated limbs, severed heads, and horrible cranial injuries.” These experiences are universal among Syrian health workers, as shown in the new report Syrian Medical Voices from the Ground: The Ordeal of Syria's Healthcare Professionals.

Syria: Latest Report to Security Council Highlights Continued Atrocities and Breaches of International Humanitarian Law

Wednesday, January 28, 2015
As the brutal crisis in Syria enters into its fifth year, calls for the protection of civilians and improved humanitarian access continue to be ignored by all parties. In a briefing to the Security Council, delivered on behalf of Humanitarian Chief Valerie Amos, UN Deputy Humanitarian Chief Kyung-wha Kang highlighted a litany of failings by all sides and renewed the humanitarian community’s call for a political end to the conflict. Ms. Kang also spoke of attacks against medical facilities and staff. “Hospitals and schools have not been spared,” she said. According to one medical organization, there were eight attacks on medical facilities in December alone. During the same period, seven medical personnel were killed, including three who were tortured to death and one who was executed.

Libyan Health Care on Life Support

Tuesday, September 2, 2014
The political chaos and unrest in Libya is taking a serious toll on health services, with the departure of medical staff and humanitarian agencies increasing the strain on health workers seeking to treat those injured in the clashes taking place since June. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) situation report, thousands of people have fled their homes in Tripoli and Benghazi and “large hospitals in Tripoli and Benghazi are overwhelmed with patients requiring emergency and trauma care.”

AQAP Suspects Kill 6 Yemen Military Hospital Staff

Monday, June 16, 2014
Suspected al-Qaeda gunmen opened fire on a minibus carrying staff members from a military hospital in Yemen's Aden on Sunday (June 15th), killing at least six people, AFP reported. The attackers used an assault rifle to rake an army minibus, carrying doctors and nurses working for the military hospital in Aden, with gunfire.

Syria: New Barrel Bombs Hit Aleppo - Attacks Defy UN, Hit Medical Facilities

Tuesday, April 29, 2014
The Syrian government is indiscriminately striking civilians and civilian objects in Aleppo with unguided, high-explosive barrel bombs. The attacks continue despite a United Nations Security Council Resolution unanimously passed on February 22, 2014, demanding that all parties in Syria cease the indiscriminate use of barrel bombs and other weapons in populated areas. The UN will meet to discuss its second round of reporting on compliance with the resolution on April 30.

Medical Services: A Priority for the Colombian Government

Thursday, February 13, 2014
In Colombia, health-care providers have their own distinctive and protective emblem called the “misión médica”, a term that encompasses medical services as a whole. In August 2002, the promotion and use of this emblem to identify medical personnel, facilities and vehicles became a national priority when the Ministry of Health and Social Protection issued a decree stipulating that medical services must be protected.

"No Patients, No Problems:" Exposure to Risk of Medical Personnel Working in MSF Projects in Yemen's Governorate of Amran

Tuesday, February 18, 2014
The paper explores the security incidents affecting medical humanitarian work in Yemen and the ways MSF as well as other health practitioners try to securitize their staff, facilities, patients. This reflection was born out of the high number of security incidents affecting MSF in the past three years, as much as a shared analysis by Yemeni health professionals that doctors in the country are particularly exposed to insecurity and suffer a chronic lack of respect from the patients.