“Perilous Medicine: The Struggle to Protect Health Care from the Violence of War”

Please join the CSIS Global Health Policy Center on Wednesday, September 15  from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. EDT, for an exciting virtual event featuring Leonard Rubenstein, Professor and Director of the Program on Human Rights and Health in Conflict at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and author of the newly released, Perilous Medicine: The Struggle to Protect Health Care from the Violence of War.  Moderated by J. Stephen Morrison, Senior Vice President and Director of the CSIS Global Health Policy Center, the discussion will examine the dangers health workers face during armed conflict and the legal, political, and moral struggle to protect them.

Only in the last decade has violence against health care in war finally begun to receive global attention. Yet, the long-lasting, indirect effects of such violence remain difficult to measure and are rarely assessed. Over the past thirty years, an estimated 29 million civilians have died in armed conflict from communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases, as well as noncommunicable diseases and injuries. In this CSIS event, Leonard Rubenstein will discuss the drivers behind persistent violence against health care in conflict zones, what can be done to persuade or compel combatants to adhere to the laws protecting health care from violence, and outstanding impediments to charting progress today.

This event is made possible by the generous support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.