Healthcare in the Crosshairs of International Crises : Mukesh Kapila / DEVEX

Opinion: Shifting humanitarian health rules will save lives in conflict

Mukesh Kapila

Click here for the article in DEVEX

Excerpts:

"Humanitarians recognize that business-as-usual is failing. But what to do? The emergency health sector offers a window into understanding the prevailing malaise and necessary adaptations."

“Rebuilding respect for health as a bridge to humanity requires policymakers to avoid its instrumentalization for partisan or nationalistic interests.”

"Health care has moved into the crosshairs of warring parties. This reflects fraying of the long-standing consensus behind health as a common global good and its weaponization for other objectives, be it pandemic-related competition for essential medical products, or as a tool for border and migration controls.

"The health sector can help by reorienting itself. This can start by remembering that health care is mostly provided by local doctors and therapists with knowledge and motivation to best serve their patients. It demands overcoming international technical elitism and enabling local skills to lead."

"Urgent campaigns — perhaps by the omnipresent Red Cross and Red Crescent — could turn everyone in a conflict zone into a lifesaver. This could be helped by the mass distribution of low-cost first aid kits and local language copies of David Werner’s 1970 classic, “Where There Is No Doctor.”