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 Table of Contents  
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Year : 2017  |  Volume : 5  |  Issue : 1  |  Page : 28-29

Preventing attacks on health facilities and health professionals by terrorist groups or conflicting parties: An urgent need


Department of Community Medicine, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, Ammapettai, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Date of Web Publication21-Mar-2017

Correspondence Address:
Saurabh RamBihariLal Shrivastava
Department of Community Medicine, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, 3rd Floor, Ammapettai Village, Thiruporur - Guduvancherry Main Road, Sembakkam Post, Kancheepuram - 603 108, Tamil Nadu
India
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Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


DOI: 10.4103/2347-9019.202655

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How to cite this article:
Shrivastava SR, Shrivastava PS, Ramasamy J. Preventing attacks on health facilities and health professionals by terrorist groups or conflicting parties: An urgent need. Int J Health Syst Disaster Manage 2017;5:28-9

How to cite this URL:
Shrivastava SR, Shrivastava PS, Ramasamy J. Preventing attacks on health facilities and health professionals by terrorist groups or conflicting parties: An urgent need. Int J Health Syst Disaster Manage [serial online] 2017 [cited 2024 Mar 29];5:28-9. Available from: https://www.ijhsdm.org/text.asp?2017/5/1/28/202655

Dear Sir,

Since the last 2–3 decades, the world is plagued by the problem of terrorism, which has accounted for killing of thousands of innocent individuals across different settings, development of a sense of fear and insecurity among the general population, massive destruction of property, and poor quality of welfare or health measures in a nation (owing to the allocation of major proportion of fund for the military strengthening instead of investing in sectors which are beneficial for major proportion of people).[1] As a matter of fact, the health sector plays an indispensable role in executing relief and emergency response activities by extending trauma associated health-care services (viz., surgical care, stabilization of injured people, etc.).[1],[2]

Nevertheless, as terrorism does not differentiate between essential and routine things and is done with an intention to interrupt essential services so that maximum proportion of people are affected, often health-care facilities are targeted.[2],[3] This not only affects the delivery of emergency health care but also the routine health care (treatment of morbidities or noncommunicable diseases, childbirth services, family planning, etc.), and thus, the impact of any terrorist strike goes way beyond the direct impact, especially in terms of the number of people whose lives are affected due to sudden interruption in the delivery of health care.[2],[3]

From a policymakers' perspective, it is extremely difficult to respond to such attacks as there is a lack of preparedness and no nation can rest assured that they are immune to terrorism.[4] As per the figures available, more than 600 health-care providers lost their lives while thousands of them were injured, many health facilities have been damaged, and logistics have been looted in 2014 alone across different parts of the affected nations.[4] At the same time, there is no doubt that often the extent of the killings or damage remains under-reported due to the lack of any mechanism to measure the extent of damage, especially in low-resource settings or the nations which are already experiencing conflicts for quite a significant period.[2],[3],[4]

In fact, reports of terrorist attacks on health-care establishments have been reported in Afghanistan and Yemen, in the early part of the year, which not only resulted in death of health professionals but also devoid thousands of civilians of routine medical care.[5],[6] Furthermore, health workers or volunteers from different international welfare agencies who have been deployed in conflict-affected parts have continuously been threatened for their lives and forced to not deliver health care.[4],[5],[6] This is a form of serious violation of international humanitarian law, which calls for not targeting the health sector regardless of any factor, as they are neutral in their functioning and so none of the conflicting parties should interfere with the functioning of them.[1],[3]

Recognizing the scope of the health sector in reducing the extent of deaths and absence of a holistic mechanism to precisely ascertain the extent of damage against the health workers, the World Health Organization has come up with a novel tracking system to combine data.[4] This tracking system has been implemented as a pilot project in some of the African nations, and the plan is to deploy in 2016 with an aim to utilize the collected information to find out any specific pattern of incidents and develop full-proof strategies to avert such incidents in the future or even minimize the impact of such disasters.[4]

Moreover, the international agencies have continued with their efforts to ensure the safety of health personnel under all circumstances; application of specific measures to safeguard the interests of health-care workers in conflict-affected areas; and reminding the terrorist groups or rebel groups to adhere to the humanitarian laws and respect the unbiased approach of the members of the health team.[4],[5],[6] Simultaneously, the national government should aim to enhance the coordination of trauma management activities and strengthen the health infrastructure to ameliorate the reach and effectiveness of the health care and rehabilitative services.[3]

In conclusion, the approach of terrorist groups to target the health sector should be condemned at all possible levels, and pressure should be exerted on them to refrain from any kind of attack on health facilities or the health personnel.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

 
  References Top

1.
Wang DW, Liu Y, Jiang MM. Review on emergency medical response against terrorist attack. Mil Med Res 2014;1:9.  Back to cited text no. 1
    
2.
Stene LE, Dyb G. Health service utilization after terrorism: A longitudinal study of survivors of the 2011 Utøya attack in Norway. BMC Health Serv Res 2015;15:158.  Back to cited text no. 2
    
3.
Alfa-Wali M, Sritharan K, Mehes M, Abdullah F, Rasheed S. Terrorism-related trauma in Africa, an increasing problem. J Epidemiol Glob Health 2015;5:201-3.  Back to cited text no. 3
    
4.
World Health Organization. Tracking Attacks on Health Workers – Don't Let Them Go Unnoticed; 2015. Available from: http://www.who.int/features/2015/healthworkers-in-emergencies/en/. [Last accessed on 2016 Nov 26].  Back to cited text no. 4
    
5.
World Health Organization. WHO Deplores Bombing of MSF Clinic in Kunduz; 2015. Available from: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2015/kunduz-bombing/en/. [Last accessed on 2016 Nov 27].  Back to cited text no. 5
    
6.
World Health Organization. WHO Condemns Attack on MSF Hospital in Yemen; 2015. Available from: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2015/msf-hospital-yemen/en/. [Last accessed on 2016 Nov 27].  Back to cited text no. 6
    




 

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