Philippa Druce†, Ekaterina Bogatyreva†, Frederik Francois Siem, Scott Gates, Hanna Kaade, Johanne Sundby, Morten Rostrup, Catherine Andersen, Siri Camilla Aas Rustad, Andrew Tchie, Robert Mood, Håvard Mokleiv Nygård, Henrik Urdal and Andrea Sylvia Winkler
†Contributed equally
Conflict and Health 2019 13:2
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13031-019-0186-0 | © The Author(s). 2019
Abstract
The escalation of conflict in the Middle East coincides with an emerging trend of attacks on healthcare. Protection of health personnel, health services and humanitarian workers is no longer respected. This compromises the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 3 – towards health for all, and 16 – towards justice and peace. The Centre for Global Health at the University of Oslo, the Peace Research Institute Oslo and the Norwegian Red Cross co-organised a meeting exploring how conflict impacts health systems and potential solutions to protect and maintain health care services.
Background
The escalation of conflict in the Middle East coincides with an emerging trend of attacks on healthcare. Protection of health personnel, health services and humanitarian workers is no longer respected. This compromises the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 3 – towards health for all, and 16 – towards justice and peace. The Centre for Global Health at the University of Oslo, the Peace Research Institute Oslo and the Norwegian Red Cross co-organised a meeting exploring how conflict impacts health systems and potential solutions to protect and maintain health care services.
This increasing violence coincides with erosion of respect for the principles of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Targeted attacks on health facilities have occurred in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, South Sudan and other conflict-affected countries in recent years. The United Nations (UN) Security Council’s Resolution 2286 was adopted in 2016 [4], strongly condemning attacks against medical facilities and personnel in conflict situations. If breaches are not met with strong sanctions, attacks on healthcare will continue with impunity. The Centre for Global Health (CGH) at the University of Oslo, the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and the Norwegian Red Cross co-organised a meeting on November 29th 2017- “Approaches to protect and maintain healthcare services in armed conflict - meeting SDGs 3 and 16” exploring how conflict impacts health systems and exploring avenues to protect and maintain health care services in conflict settings. Challenges and potential solutions were discussed by medical doctors, humanitarian workers, scholars and diplomats.