settings, direct observations of humanitarian responders, public health practitioners, human rights defenders, and policy and academic researchers complement other sources of information. This can notably fill gaps resulting from shortages of data and lack of evidence. A case in point is violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) protecting humanitarian health workers. Article 14 under the Geneva Convention guaranteed the protection of healthcare workers, transport, and facilities, and those injured during war. Since the start of the twentieth century the
Background: Studying Attacks on Healthcare in Syria The past years have seen a flurry of efforts to comprehensively understand attacks and their impact by a wide range of actors. The unprecedented attacks in the Syrian conflict in particular constitute a watershed, with Syria arguably forming the best researched example to date. In Syria, attacks on healthcare have gained a systematic character since the start of the conflict ( Fouad et
1 Payment in the history of healthcare ‘The voluntary hospital system is not dead’, declared one delegate at the 1938 annual conference of the Incorporated Association of Hospital Officers; ‘It may be changing, it may eventually become something other than a voluntary hospital system, but it is not dead.’ 1 Ten years later it would be brought to an abrupt end, nationalised and integrated almost wholesale into the new
This book examines the payment systems operating in British hospitals before the National Health Service (NHS). An overview of the British situation is given, locating the hospitals within both the domestic social and political context, before taking a wider international view. The book sets up the city of Bristol as a case study to explore the operation and meaning of hospital payments on the ground. The foundation of Bristol's historic wealth, and consequent philanthropic dynamism, was trade. The historic prominence of philanthropic associations in Bristol was acknowledged in a Ministry of Health report on the city in the 1930s. The distinctions in payment served to reinforce the differential class relations at the core of philanthropy. The act of payment heightens and diminishes the significance of 1948 as a watershed in the history of British healthcare. The book places the hospitals firmly within the local networks of care, charity and public services, shaped by the economics and politics of a wealthy southern city. It reflects the distinction drawn between and separation of working-class and middle-class patients as a defining characteristic of the system that emerged over the early twentieth century. The rhetorical and political strategies adopted by advocates of private provision were based on the premise that middle-class patients needed to be brought in to a revised notion of the sick poor. The book examines why the voluntary sector and wider mixed economies of healthcare, welfare and public services should be so well developed in Bristol.
and disasters are a good example of this. Even on a smaller scale, one has only to look to mass-casualty incidents in well-resourced settings. Much as plans and protocols may be in place, the need and requirement of the circumstance pushes the limits of capacity, and therefore it is necessary for healthcare (in needing to deliver the most for the most) to focus much more heavily and widely on the rudimentary stages of casualty management and triage. Certainly, the return to ‘normal’ in well
Introduction 1 On 15 December 2013, only two and a half years after the Republic of South Sudan had become an independent state, the long-simmering tensions between President Salva Kiir and his former vice-president, Riek Machar, erupted into armed clashes in the capital, Juba. War soon broke out. This article seeks to document and analyse violence affecting the provision of healthcare by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and its intended
strengthened. Then, beginning in 2016, we worked to decentralise care and laboratory activity in order to improve access and follow-up [increasing the number of facilities that could test, start treatment and dispense the medications] and to simplify our model to ensure continuity of care, particularly after we left. In 2018, after we had done testing in the entire district, we continued testing at healthcare facilities, reserving home testing for the contacts [family and friends
wrong or right, or you can go from the ethical perspective (the ethos), the name-shame strategy, and then you go for papers. This is when visual content makes sense. Having held the position of a senior coordinator for attacks on healthcare, it’s very surreal to imagine that you’re getting bombed. And when you put somebody in a virtual reality situation, make him go through pretending to feel what’s happening, there’s a real emotional impact. They get it. Some people don’t. Some people may have some trauma triggered. So, especially if you recreate a trauma situation
a humanitarian crisis, there has been less focus on whether these groups – and particularly father-to-father groups – can also serve as a space to discuss and challenge harmful gender norms that discriminate against women and girls. This study demonstrates that for both men and women, the discussions within the support groups have inspired changes in perceptions and actions around food, nutrition and life-saving healthcare. However, barriers such as the lack of infrastructure, chronic poverty, a lack of motivation and the prevailing beliefs that reinforce gender
unthinkable in a European country with a robust healthcare system. In this article, we reflect on our experience and some of the lessons that can be learned for future epidemics. Evolution of MSF Intervention In March 2020, there was a steep increase in critical COVID-19 patients leading to a shortfall in hospital beds, including beds in intensive care units and for those patients needing access to respiratory support. Supporting emergency response is