Article Image Alt Text

Dr. Unni Karunakara delivering his lecture.

Article Image Alt Text

Medical students were out in their numbers to hear the lecture.

Lecture focuses on populations in crisis

 

“Helping Populations in Crisis” was the topic of discus-sion after former President of Doctors Without Borders, Dr. Unni Karunakara, delivered a lecture at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill campus on Monday evening.
 
To the audience, which mainly comprised students from the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Dr. Karunakara explained that medical humanitarianism does not equate to alleviating poverty, but seeks to alleviate the health issues that a population may face. “Humanitarians reject the idea that people have to suffer… A lot of it can be avoided, but we don’t because of the political systems that fail across the world,” stated Dr. Karunakara.
 
Highlighting the rights and wrongs of medical humanitarianism, the doctor emphasised that Organisational Neutrality is very important. In fact, he stated that it is the only way to work effectively with vulnerable groups as it fosters trust among these populations as opposed to having political funding with a political agenda.
 
Secondly, Dr. Karunakara pointed to independence. Being closely tied to the point of Organisational Neutrality, the doctor explained that funding from certain countries can seem as though a side is being taken and humanitarians have to be consistent in the application of principles.
 
Nevertheless, humanitarian work has its challenges. Apart from being targets in recent times by warring countries, Dr. Karunakara admitted that insecurity is a major challenge as it results in governments worldwide intruding on one’s privacy because we are living in a climate of fear. Impunity and indifference prove to be problems as well because, according to the doctor, war crimes are being committed without punishment and people are experiencing compassion fatigue.
 
Additionally, there is also the issue of having NGOs that are a part of the military (even though all are not like this) and institutions such as the United Nations are very slow to act as was seen in the case of combating Ebola.
 
Thus, Dr. Karunakara concluded, “There are failures at multiple levels. It is because systems are failing that there are humanitarians. The people have to show other people that we all care for each other.”

Barbados Advocate

Mailing Address:
Advocate Publishers (2000) Inc
Fontabelle, St. Michael, Barbados

Phone: (246) 467-2000
Fax: (246) 434-2020 / (246) 434-1000