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Maintaining Baseline, Corrective Surgical Care during Asymmetrical Warfare: A Case Study of a Humanitarian Mission in the Safe Zone of a Neighboring Country

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

K.A. Kelly McQueen ,
Frederick M. Burkle Jr. ,
Eaman T. Al-Gobory  and
Christopher C. Anderson
K.A. Kelly McQueen*
Affiliation:
Fellow, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts USA
Frederick M. Burkle Jr.
Affiliation:
Senior Lecturer, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Harvard School of Public Health, Professor and Director, Asia-Pacific Center for Biosecurity, Disaster & Conflict Research, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii USA
Eaman T. Al-Gobory
Affiliation:
National Medical Officer, International Organization for Migration, Jordan
Christopher C. Anderson
Affiliation:
International Development Manager, Middle East, Operation Smile, Inc., Norfolk, Virginia USA
*
4134 N 49th Place Phoenix, Arizona 85018 USA E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The current insurgency warfare in Iraq is of an unconventional or asymmetrical nature. The deteriorating security has resulted in problems recovering and maintaining essential health services. Before the 2003 war, Iraq was considered a developed country with the capacity to routinely perform baseline medical and surgical care. These procedures now are performed irregularly, if at all. Due to the unconventional warfare, traditional Military Medical Civilian Assistance Programs (MEDCAPs) and civilian humanitarian missions, which routinely are mobilized post-conflict, are unable to function. In December 2005, an international medical mission conducted by the Operation Smile International Chapter in neighboring Jordan employed civilian physicians and nurses to provide surgery and post-operative care for Iraqi children with newly diagnosed cleft lip and palates and the complications that had occurred from previous surgical repair. Seventy-one children, their families, and a team of Iraqi physicians were safely transported to Jordan and returned to Iraq across the Iraqi western province war zone. Although complications may occur during transport, treatment within a safe zone is a solution for providing services in an insecure environment.

Keywords

civil-militarycorrective surgerydisaster managementhumanitarian assistancesecuritywarfare
Type
Special Report
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , February 2007 , pp. 3 - 7
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2007

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