Citation

Burkle FM, Kushner AL, Giannou C, Paterson MA, Wren SM, Burnham G. Disaster Med. Public Health Prep. 2019; 13(2): 109-115.

Affiliation

9Department of International Health,Center for Global Health,Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,Baltimore,Maryland.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Publisher Cambridge University Press)

DOI

10.1017/dmp.2018.41

PMID

29706140

Abstract

Since 1945, the reason for humanitarian crises and the way in which the world responds to them has dramatically changed every 10 to 15 years or less. Planning, response, and recovery for these tragic events have often been ad hoc, inconsistent, and insufficient, largely because of the complexity of global humanitarian demands and their corresponding response system capabilities. This historical perspective chronicles the transformation of war and armed conflicts from the Cold War to today, emphasizing the impact these events have had on humanitarian professionals and their struggle to adapt to increasing humanitarian, operational, and political challenges. An unprecedented independent United Nations-World Health Organization decision in the Battle for Mosul in Iraq to deploy to combat zones emergency medical teams unprepared in the skills of decades-tested war and armed conflict preparation and response afforded to health care providers and dictated by International Humanitarian Law and Geneva Convention protections has abruptly challenged future decision-making and deployments. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;page 1 of 7).

Language: en

Keywords

Geneva Convention; International Committee of the Red Cross; International Humanitarian Law; complex humanitarian emergencies; war and armed conflict