The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) released Wednesday a report drawing attention to one of the most crucial yet overlooked humanitarian issues of today: violence against health care.
The 24-page report is available here.
The ICRC has been documenting violence against health-care facilities and personnel, and against patients, since 2008 in 16 countries where it is working.
Sri Lanka is one of them.
In a press release announcing the report, the ICRC states:
“The number of [attacks] that have been recorded is striking. But statistics represent only the tip of the iceberg: they do not capture the compounded cost of violence – health-care staff leaving their posts, hospitals running out of supplies and vaccination campaigns coming to a halt. These knock-on effects dramatically limit access to health care for entire communities, many of whose members may be suffering from chronic or war-related health problems.”
“The ICRC is launching a major campaign to raise awareness of this pressing issue, and mobilizing a community of concern. This global initiative will last four years and aims at making a crucial difference for people affected on the ground.”