Haiti's Fight for Health Care and International Humanitarian Law in Gaza

April 12, 2024

Better health begins with ideas

Editors' Note

Gang violence has ravaged Haiti, undermining its already fragile health system and exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. GHESKIO, a health organization launched in 1982, stands out as a beacon of hope. This week, cofounder Marie-Marcelle Deschamps chronicles GHESKIO's many achievements, including its status as the world's first organization dedicated solely to the fight against AIDS and its more recent feat of delivering free health care to over 100,000 Haitians amid the ongoing violence.

Next, Rohini Haar and Saman Zia-Zarifi from Physicians for Human Rights debate whether international humanitarian law will survive the Israel-Hamas war. They note that if actors followed their duty to not attack hospitals, humanitarians, or other civilian targets, some of the mass atrocities observed in Gaza and other war zones would be mitigated.
Turning to Afghanistan, Mustafa Basij Rasikh and Alyssa Sharkey from Princeton University discuss the consequences of the Taliban's decision to limit access to education for women, including the thousands who aspired to become doctors.

Journalist Anika Nayak and physician Jaya Sarin Pradhan then describe how partnering with academic institutions could bolster funding and resources for rural hospitals, which are closing in large numbers across the United States. Those facilities serve approximately 61 million Americans who live outside of urban areas.

Finishing this week's lineup, Said Ismail, director of Qatar Genome Program, highlights his organization's efforts to sequence data from Qatar and other Arab populations . By adding more genome data from underrepresented populations, physicians everywhere could more accurately diagnose patients, leading to better health outcomes for everyone.

Until next week!—Nsikan Akpan, Managing Editor, and Caroline Kantis, Associate Editor 

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