Search Here

In order to survive in armed conflict, people caught in the crossfire often neglect their health in order to fill the most basic of human needs - food, water, and shelter. Data from a volunteer organization showed that women in war-torn countries are either underserved or do not seek health services at all.

Dr. Sherry Wren was a volunteer in Africa when she observed that only a trickle of women went in for surgeries or for health check-ups. She asked for data from Doctors Without Borders on surgeries performed in conflict areas and found out that of 50,000 operations only 31 percent were done on women, Reuters reported.

Her study investigated solely on the Doctors Without Borders data primarily because all of their operations are done for free so it takes out the hindrance of the inability to pay from the picture. What they found out in operations involved in non-violent trauma where she expected women in war-torn countries to have higher numbers seeking care, 73 percent of those who got surgical intervention were men.

This is alarming as access to health services in conflict areas is difficult to women. This situation is also echoed in Europe where the people displaced by the conflict between Ukraine and Russia have little access to healthcare. The war caused health complications to people who were forced to move from place to place and become refugees and be away from stable healthcare providers like therapists or doctors, Public Radio International reported.

Women in war-torn countries in particular need more attention as culture dictates that they are the carers in these societies. The task of caring for those who are left behind at home falls unto them even if they themselves need health interventions.

It is imperative that armed conflicts are resolved peacefully so societies can focus on their citizens who are in dire need of health care and barely surviving in miserable conditions.