World Health Assembly

"It Is Time to Act": World Health Assembly Side Event on Health and Well-Being in Emergencies

Thursday, May 21, 2015
Yesterday, during the World Health Organization’s 68th World Health Assembly, the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition, along with United Nations agencies and nine member states, held a well-attended side event on health and well-being in emergencies.

Statement Delivered at World Health Assembly in Response to WHO's Global Vaccine Action Plan

Wednesday, May 20, 2015
At the 68th World Health Assembly in Geneva this week,IntraHealth International delivered a statement on behalf IntraHealth as well as 34 other organizations who are affiliated with the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition. The statement was made in response to WHO's Global Vaccine Action Plan.

Attacks on Health Facilities, Staff, Patients

Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Attacks on medical facilities, health workers, and patients have occurred in at least 17 countries undergoing conflict and civil unrest since January 2014, Human Rights Watch and the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition said in a joint report issued today. The report was released at the annual meeting of health ministers from around the world in Geneva from May 18-26, 2015. The 22-page report, “Attacks on Health: Global Report,” highlights recent attacks in countries around the world.

World Health Assembly Side Event: Health and Well-Being in Emergencies

Wednesday, May 6, 2015
On Wednesday, May 20, 2015, the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition will cosponsor a side event, Health and Wellbeing in Emergencies, at the World Health Assembly. The event will focus on safety and health of health workers; reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health; and mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian emergencies.

Statement Delivered at World Health Assembly in Response to WHO's Role in Meeting Demands of Health in Humanitarian Emergencies

Thursday, May 29, 2014
At the 67th World Health Assembly in Geneva last week, Chantal Baumgarten of Save the Children delivered a statement on behalf of her organization as well 21 other organizations who are affiliated with the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition. The statement was made in respond to agenda item 17M: “WHO’s response, and role as the health cluster lead, in meeting the growing demands of health in humanitarian emergencies (resolution WHA 65.20).”

More Protection for Healthcare Needed

Friday, May 23, 2014
Experts are calling for increased protection to healthcare workers and patients in crisis situations in the face of growing attacks on health facilities, which challenge notions of their neutrality. “We need multiple and reinforcing means to protect health care in situations of violence, including the well-developed mechanisms of human rights monitoring, reporting and accountability,” Leonard Rubenstein, chair of Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition, a group of humanitarian and human rights organizations, told IRIN from the World Health Assembly, which is being held from 19 to 24 May in Geneva.

Health Care under Attack: A Call for Action

Thursday, May 22, 2014
A technical briefing on healthcare workers under attack was held 21 May by WHO in occasion of the 67th World Health Assembly. Attacks on health care workers, patients and health facilities are increasing in many parts of the world. These attacks violate the basic right to health care and reflect a grave lack of respect for International Humanitarian Law, which provides special status and protection to health-care personnel. Violence against the health system limits access to medical services for those who need them most and can have grave public health consequences.

WHO Director-General Condemns Attacks on Health Workers and Facilities in Conflict Situations

Tuesday, May 21, 2013
In her address to the 66th World Health Assembly in Geneva on May 20, WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan spoke about the “deeply troubled times” we live in and referenced “assaults on health personnel and health care facilities in conflict situations,” which the World Health Organization condemns “in the strongest possible terms.”

Coalition Urges World Health Organization Director-General to Raise Awareness of Attacks on Health Workers

Thursday, May 16, 2013
On May 15 the Safeguarding Health in Conflict coalition sent a letter to World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan urging her to include in her World Health Assembly opening address a forceful statement condemning attacks on doctors, nurses, emergency medical personnel, and other health workers, particularly in Syria, which are taking place at an unprecedented level. The letter, which also has the support of the World Medical Association, called attention to a new study by the International Committee of the Red Cross, Violent Incidents Affecting Health Care, which reported that at least 921 violent incidents against health care personnel, infrastructure, and wounded or sick people took place in 2012.

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