The remote village of Santa Cruz is littered with landmines and unexploded devices.
? What is the knock-on effect of this type of violence?
A) Prevents delivery of health care
Correct answer! The only health-care worker in this village risks her life and limbs every time she ventures from the health-care centre to conduct a home visit or do a round of vaccinations.
B) Prompts health-care personnel to flee from war zones
C) Prevents medical personnel from fleeing from war zones
Active fighting in the vicinity of health-care facilities
Côte d’Ivoire, March 2011
Heavy fighting took place in the capital, Abidjan, near Abobo Sud Hospital, the only functioning hospital in the northern half of the city.
? What is the knock-on effect of this type of violence?
A) Prevents access to health-care and prevents medical supplies from being replenished
Correct answer! In Abidjan, ambulances were prevented from collecting the wounded, and supplies were prevented from reaching Abobo Sud Hospital. Dozens of wounded people arrived at the hospital each day by whatever means they could, and medical supplies soon began to run low.
B) Incites medical personnel to resort to violence
C) Spreads diseases from infected to uninfected areas
Civil unrest led to an exodus of health-care professionals. Foreign governments had ordered their nationals to leave the country, and a large percentage of the medical workforce, particularly nurses, were foreign nationals.
? What is the knock-on effect of this type of violence?
A) Spreads diseases from infected to uninfected areas
B) Results in a lack of medical assistance for people in need
Correct answer! In Libya, many medical facilities, such as hospitals in Benghazi and Misrata, were left critically understaffed. The shortage of personnel affected not only those wounded in the fighting, but also Libyan civilians suffering from chronic illnesses that required regular care.
C) Incites soldiers and combatants to take over hospitals
Case 1: Threats of violence against health-care personnel
Iraq, 2008
The Iraqi Health Ministry estimated that over 625 medical personnel had been killed since 2003. Many doctors had been deliberately targeted and hundreds more had received death threats or been kidnapped, sometimes for ransom but also sometimes for political or religious reasons.
? What is the knock-on effect of this type of violence?
A) Prompts medical personnel to leave their jobs
B) Incites medical personnel to resort to violence
C) Causes medical personnel to flee from war zones
Correct answer! In Iraq, the Health Ministry reported that 18,000 of its 34,000 doctors fled the country between 2003 and 2006. Many of those who stayed were forced to live in the hospitals where they worked to avoid the risky journey home each day.
Case 2: Looting of medical facilities
Iraq, 2003
Medical facilities in Baghdad were looted and/or destroyed.
? What is the knock-on effect of this type of violence?
A) Causes population displacements
B) Results in a lack of medical personnel to treat the wounded
C) Results in a lack of medical supplies and facilities to treat the wounded
Correct answer! The whole medical system in Baghdad was brought to the point of collapse. Hospitals were forced to close and many wounded people died because they were left unattended.
Direct attacks against health-care personnel and facilities
Somalia, December 2009
A man blew himself up at a university graduation ceremony in Mogadishu, killing medical students.
? What is the knock-on effect of this type of violence?
A) Deprives countries of much needed doctors
Correct answer! This was only the second batch of medical graduates to emerge in the last twenty years, depriving the Somali people of desperately needed doctors.
The military closed the road to the hospital in the Chahar Dara district of the Kunduz province.
? What is the knock-on effect of this type of violence?
A) Prevents health-care personnel from going to work
B) Delays access to medical treatment
Correct answer! In the case mentioned, a girl injured by an explosion had been carried on foot for an hour and died soon after arriving at the hospital.
C) Prevents medical personnel from fleeing from war zones
People fleeing violence in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas moved to the province of Punjab, a relatively disease-free area.
? What is the knock-on effect of this type of violence?
A) Spreads diseases from infected to uninfected areas
Correct answer! After the influx of displaced people, the province of Punjab, which had been polio-free for two years, experienced an outbreak.
B) Causes active fighting to spread to other areas
