The health of women and the care of young people over 5 years of age are the big forgotten ones in the conflicts. An international study in which the University of Geneva participated, published on Monday, noted this failure. Work is underway at WHO.
The Geneva researchers looked with their counterparts in particular on the question of the health of women and children in Syria (archives).
KEYSTONE / EPA / YOUSSEF BADAWI
For two years, researchers from the BRANCH consortium, which brings together seven academic institutions in several countries, focused on ten countries in conflict in which large areas are controlled by armed groups. They publish five articles in the British journal “The Lancet“, In which they call for an” urgent “improvement in the health of civilians, in particular that of women and children.
In areas, such as Syria, which escape government authority, “it is difficult to understand what is going on” in terms of public health, University of Geneva professor Karl Karl told Keystone-ATS. Blanchet. This situation has prompted researchers to broaden their efforts to other countries, says the director of the Geneva Center for Humanitarian Studies, a joint entity of the University and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID).
Among the lessons in the ten countries, family planning and sexual and reproductive health services are “completely interrupted” during crises. Another indication, young people are the forgotten public health services in these conflicts, also explains Karl Blanchet.
He is currently leading a group at the World Health Organization (WHO) to establish global guidelines for the health of women and children in these troubled environments. But we must take into account the components of each conflict in the humanitarian response, also adds the Geneva official.
Dialogue with NGOs
Discussions are also taking place with other UN agencies, but also the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) or Geneva Call.
More than half of the world’s population of women and children are in conflict zones. These people, disproportionately affected, face health and food difficulties and are exposed to violence.
In addition to this work, Karl Blanchet also works on the issue of protection of health personnel in conflict. And that of negotiations with armed groups for access to vaccination against the coronavirus. NGOs like Geneva Call will be important to move forward in this discussion, notes the Geneva researcher.
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