Scholarly Review of the article, Medical Humanitariasm; ethnographies of practice.

Introduction

The article, Medical Humatarianism: ethnographies of Practice edited by Brick, P and Abramowitz, S.Edition of 2015 and Published by University of Pennyslvania Press,  looks keenly at the response of the health workers to the greatest humanitarian crises of our time and how this is affected or shaped by the people’s culture, practices, habits, customs and the mutual differences. They cite the security, experience, dependency and local law enforcement.

Peter Piot, (2015), talks of the extreme complexities involved in dealing with health matters considering the bureaucracies and the conditions in response and planning. The security of staff, neutrality, experience and mis-understandings that are discussed below.

 The security of the staff in the organization is critical and has to involve the local law enforcement organs. Remember the organization has to remain neutral because there are areas that are very controversial and cannot support one side. The ability of the team as well to negotiate their way in provision of healthcare services in the intricate environment is critical. According to Shevchenko and Fox, (2008), formation of the expatriate community and the local expertise in the humanitarian context is changing. While research in Sub Saharan Africa shows that medical volunteerism is helping the already overstretched workforce, in other parts of the world, the volunteers do that not because they want to help, but because they need that experience. (Laleman. Et al. 2007). In other contexts, the humanitarian assistance has been criticized for instilling a sense of dependency to the people and the local community making areas not develop and causing a lot of political and social mis-understanding in some areas. (Barnet and Weiss, 2011).

Critically looking at the issues discussed however, resolving the issues calls for the international community dealing with humanitarian emergencies to dealing with issues as they come up. The issue of responding to emergencies is taken as resolving the issues at hand to alleviate suffering from people affected by the disasters. The political class is left with the development agenda to address. The editors do not regard the fact that the differences can also be rewarding when it comes to synergies and learning from one another. People come together with different experiences from different areas of the world and this can be rewarding.

The article is important as it shows the level of interdependence of the humanitarian workers as well as their environment in regards to culture, practices, laws and general roles.

References

Fassin, Didier. (2011) Humanitarian Reason: A moral history of the present. Berkelry: University of California Press.

Irwin, Julia F. (2013) Making the world safe: the American Redcross and the Nations Humanitarian awakening. New York: Oxford University Press.

Laleman. Eta al. (2007) “the contribution of international health volunteers to the work force in sub Saharan Africa”. Human resources for health 5(1): 19

Shevchenko, Olga and Renee C. Fox. (2008) challenges of fulfilling ‘without borders’ ideals in international humanitarian action. Health and human rights: An International Journal 10(1): 109-122.