As the coronavirus continues to spread around the world, conflict zones are in particular need of support in getting medical equipment to stop the spread and the potentially catastrophic aftermath.
Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), told Cheddar Monday that the countries that drew the most concerns fell within "conflict regions, in which health facilities have been destroyed and have been weakened over the last decades because of conflict and violence."
While the ICRC is an independent organization that focuses on the protection of victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence, Maurer said the response from healthcare workers around the world to the COVID-19 pandemic has been impactful.
"The National Red Cross Society together with the ICRC and with volunteers are responding in big numbers to strengthen the capacities of those facilities and to beef up those capacities, and to bring preventive, protective materials in," he explained.
The novel coronavirus has exposed deficits in healthcare systems worldwide, and Maurer said that he sees an opportunity to use this crisis to address problems that long have been neglected.
"One interesting element we have witnessed over the last couple of weeks is that the consciousness about the weakness of the health system is growing," he said. "I think there is a perspective that these countries, while they are the most vulnerable, they also get a pathway to a better future if they do it right and if they are adequately supported by international organizations these days."
