Everyday Violence against Health Workers Takes a Toll —on Us All

November 20, 2017Attacks on health care range from catastrophic to casual. At what cost?During September in Syria, there were10 attacks on health care in 10 days. Air-to-surface missiles sought out and destroyed ambulances and hospitals and killed the people inside them.I follow the news. I ’d read thedevastating report by theSafeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition. So I knew that catastrophic attacks like this have escalated and that, in fact, 2016 was the worst year on record for such violence. War is a dangerous time for health workers and their clients, despite the Geneva Convention ’s ban on such crimes.In some US states, nursing is more dangerous than being a police officer.But I didn ’t realize until last week at theFourth Global Forum on Human Resources for Health the extent of everyday violence health workers face around the world. Slapping. Kicking. Pushing. Verbal abuse.In some US states,nursing is more dangerous than being a police officer or a prison guard. In Spain, the problem was so widespread that the government created a national observatory for violence against health workers to collect data about the attacks. Media advocacy campaigns led to changes in the penal codes, so that attacks against health workers are now punished as severely as those against public servants.In fact, said Juan Manuel Garrote, secretary general of the Spanish Medical Association, Friday at the forum, Spain even created a national day against attacks on health care professi...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Source Type: news