Dr. Rick Brennan Regional Emergency Director for WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office. Picture: Salim Matramkot / The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar: A research report published at the recently concluded World Innovation Summit (WISH) for Health is expected to garner political will to protect healthcare in conflict zones.
The report ‘In the Line of Fire: Protecting Health in Armed Conflict,’ published as result of a partnership between WISH and World Health Organization (WHO), aims to strengthen diplomatic efforts, raise awareness, and, most importantly, end impunity, said Dr. Rick Brennan Regional Emergency Director for WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office. He is also the main author of the report.
Speaking to The Peninsula on the sidelines of WISH 2024, Dr. Brennan said that in the backdrop of increasing attacks on healthcare settings in conflict zones, the report outlines key recommendations for stakeholders who can help protect healthcare facilities and workers.
He emphasised on the need to take forward the report and ultimately translate into a global alliance for the protection of health in armed conflict.
“We hope it will also lead to strengthened and sustained diplomatic efforts, increased education, and greater awareness. Most importantly, we must ensure that impunity ends. Political leaders must step up and declare that enough is enough, and there must be consequences for violating international law,” said Dr. Brennan.
“We are exploring various ways to present the report. There are a couple of important meetings coming up, and we’ve been discussing whether we could share the report with other UN bodies. We need to disseminate the findings, present them, and raise awareness. I believe the findings of the report should be deeply concerning for both leaders and communities. Healthcare is something vital and should never be abused. Now that we have the report, it’s crucial that we use it to drive action. We need to generate the political will to ensure that people take responsibility and are held accountable,” he added.
The WISH – WHO partnership developed three WHO-led collaborative research projects, generating evidence-based reports for in-depth discussion at the summit. These reports focused on topics that urgently require the attention of the global health community.
Dr. Brennan described the partnership underscores a joint commitment to enhancing policy and practice.
“It’s just very encouraging to see the senior leadership of the two organisations(WISH and WHO) putting their support behind what we’re trying to achieve with the various reports,” he said.
The WISH-WHO partnership resulted in three reports on Palliative Care: How can we respond to 10 years of limited progress?; In the line of fire: Protecting health in armed conflict; and Innovative Solutions for the Elimination of Tuberculosis among Refugees and Migrants.
Jim Campbell, Director of Health Workforce at WHO
Speaking separately, Jim Campbell, Director of Health Workforce at WHO, stated that the ongoing partnership with WISH has been elevated to a much more strategic collaboration this year.
“The focus is on how we can scale science and evidence into practice. As part of this, we’ve agreed to bring new scientific evidence papers to the table,” he said.
“One of the exciting aspects of WISH, and the Qatar Foundation, is that many of these recommendations are immediately tested within the context of Qatar’s National Health System. They’re also tested in the way Qatar collaborates with its regional partners and engages in diplomatic forums. This immediate application and testing of evidence-based practices in Qatar is significant. It shows that the recommendations work, are validated, and can be scaled effectively,” he added.
