Dilemmas of Healthcare Workers in Combat Zones

Abstract

This article highlights the critical role of healthcare workers in conflict zones, emphasizing the severe health impacts that extend beyond the battlefield. Drawing from personal experience in Bahr-el Ghazal, Sudan, the author underscores how war-induced disruptions to health systems exacerbate preventable deaths from diseases like pneumonia and childbirth complications. Indirect health effects, such as malnutrition, mental health disorders, and child mortality, often surpass combat-related fatalities. Dr. Prasad calls for a shift in moral frameworks, critiquing the "jus in bello" and "double effect" principles, while advocating for Michael Walzer's "double intention" approach to protect civilian health. At a time when war is raging in the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine, causing massive civilian casualties, this article is especially timely. It stresses the urgent need for global action to reduce war's indirect health impacts, noting that with modern health interventions and technology, the world has the means to prevent this avoidable suffering.