The Last Thing Health Workers Should Have to Worry About
Even as they were making countless sacrifices during the pandemic, health workers were targeted in 1,100+ attacks last year, according to a new report by Insecurity Insight and the UC Berkeley Human Rights Center. (▻https://globalhealthnow.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=eb20503b111da8623142751ea&id=77a43c9fac&e= )
~800 of the attacks were related to conflicts—hospitals bombed in Yemen, doctors abducted in Nigeria, according to the research. (▻https://globalhealthnow.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=eb20503b111da8623142751ea&id=6c479dc611&e= )
Disturbing New Twist: ~400 attacks were directly tied to the pandemic, Physicians for Human Rights notes (▻https://globalhealthnow.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=eb20503b111da8623142751ea&id=ff464c1148&e= ), including:
Threats, beatings, and attacks with stones or hot liquids
Violent reactions to mask requirements
Arson of COVID-19 testing facilities
Pandemic-triggered violence was especially pronounced in India and Mexico, but it is a “truly global crisis,” affecting 79 countries, said Insecurity Insight’s Christina Wille, who led development of a new interactive map. (▻https://globalhealthnow.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=eb20503b111da8623142751ea&id=0f07d852aa&e= )
Pandemic year 1 failures need to be replaced with immediate action to safeguard health workers, said Leonard Rubenstein, chair of the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition. He highlights recommendations in a companion research brief: (▻https://globalhealthnow.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=eb20503b111da8623142751ea&id=2cbf478c02&e=)
Counter disinformation
End repression against health workers who speak up
More protection for health workers
Hold perpetrators accountable