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ICRC: Healthcare Systems, Workers, Patients Are Under Attack

VOA News

   Murder,rapeand physical abuse areamong the attacksthathealthcare
   workers, the wounded and the sick havebeen subjected toin the five
   years sincethe United Nations Security Council adoptedits first
   resolution on the protectionof health care in conflictzonesand demanded
   an end to impunity for such attacks.

   The InternationalCommitteeof the Red Cross(ICRC)said in a statement
   Monday that"health-care providers and patients have suffered through
   thousands of attacks on health care systems" since the resolutionwas
   adopted.

   Medical facilitiesand medical transport vehicleshavebeen looted and
   destroyedand healthcare services, such as vaccine campaigns, havealso
   come under attack, the ICRC added.

   TheICRCcounted 3,780 attacks per year in an average of 33 countries
   between 2016 and 2020, the aid organization said in a
   statement.Two-thirds of the attacks, ICRC said, occurred inAfricaand
   theMiddleEast, includingAfghanistan, theDemocraticRepublic of the
   Congo, Israel and the occupied territories, and Syria.The count
   islikely higherthan the ICRC tabulations, the organization said,
   because of the challenges of accumulating data in conflictzones.

   The COVID pandemic has not slowed theattacks. Thestatement said between
   February and July 2020,ICRC"recorded 611 violent incidents against
   health-care workers, patients and medical infrastructure associated
   with the COVID-19 response, about 50 percent higher than average."

   "There is a lack of political will and a crisis of imagination when it
   comes to protecting health-care providers and patients," said Maciej
   Polkowski, the head of ICRC's Health Care in Danger Initiative, which
   works to ensure safe access to health care in armed conflict and other
   emergencies."States wishing to see this agenda advance should lead by
   example."

   Filippo Gatto, ICRC's head nurse, who once had a militant shove an
   AK-47 in his face, said people need to understand that healthcare
   workersare "there to treat everyone and anyone, white, red, blue,
   government or not government." He added," At a certain point it will
   also be your turn in need of medical care."

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