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What's New
06/17/2014
World Health & Population is seeking submissions of original manuscripts for a theme issue on the nature and impacts of attacks on health workers in conflict zones, to be published in Fall 2014. The issue’s guest editors are Leonard S. Rubenstein and Katherine Footer of the Center for Public Health and Human Rights at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Joseph Amon of Human Rights Watch.
06/17/2014
During an aerial attack on a Sudanese village, Sudan’s air force bombed and partially destroyed a hospital run by the international medical humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in the war-torn South Kordofan region Monday, depriving civilians of critical medical care, the organization said today.
06/16/2014
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.
06/09/2014
The London Summit on Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict is a landmark opportunity to strengthen global efforts to end rape in war, Human Rights Watch said today. Governments should use the summit, from June 10 to June 13, 2014, to make strong public commitments to end impunity for sexual violence, assist survivors, and prevent further rapes.
06/05/2014
Staff from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have delivered badly needed medical supplies to the main hospital in Fallujah. Because of persistent heavy fighting between government forces and armed groups, this is the first time ICRC personnel have managed to enter the city since January. They found immense needs and a situation that is extremely dire.
06/04/2014
The three-year-old civil war continues to rage, with its mounting toll of more than 160,000 people killed and millions displaced in Syria and neighboring countries. Undeterred by any sense of moral compass, Mr. Assad is flattening cities, blocking food aid from rebel-held areas and, according to Physicians for Human Rights, systematically attacking doctors and health care facilities, an especially heinous action that violates the norms of war and can constitute a crime against humanity under international law.
06/04/2014
So near – and yet so far. Health workers in South Sudan are close to making the parasitic guinea worm only the second human disease ever to be eradicated. Just 11 cases have been seen this year in the country, the worm's last major stronghold, compared to 55 at this time last year. The progress may be short-lived.
06/03/2014
Midwives can sometimes be the only thing standing between life and death for women and children in a humanitarian crisis situation. Watch how one midwife in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan is saving the lives of women and children.
06/03/2014
Although the government has denied attacking Fallujah General Hospital, the weapons used in the attacks – mortar shells, direct fire weapons, and barrel bombs – are consistent with Iraqi military equipment. In deliberately attacking the hospital, the government of Iraq has unfortunately followed the nefarious example of its Syrian neighbor. The conflicts in Syria and Iraq possess unique traits, but they share some underlying factors.
06/03/2014
When the gunshots started in Lanyi town last December, Wilma Avowa was grinding corn in preparation for dinner. She grabbed a few clothes and some food, and packed them in her bag. As she fled her home in this rural community five hours from South Sudan’s capital of Juba, she feared for her two pregnant neighbors, both of whom were due to deliver soon.