Photo: Cedric Fauntleroy/ Pexels
(Sophie Roborgh, Larissa Fast/ The Conversation) — From balconies, windows and door fronts around the world, citizens are applauding healthcare workers on the frontline of the COVID-19 response for their commitment and care.
Despite these visible shows of support, all is not well – because in addition to the risks of exposure to a largely invisible enemy, these medics also face threats of various kinds in the workplace.
We usually think of attacks on healthcare as something that happens in the context of war or political repression. Such attacks have been reported in Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan.
In these cases, the attackers are usually aiming to gain a military advantage or to deny healthcare to enemy forces and civilian populations.
But what the COVID-19 pandemic illustrates is that attacks against healthcare can – and do – happen everywhere.
Since the start of the pandemic, different forms of aggression have combined to interfere with the professional and personal lives of healthcare workers.
As well as exposing them, in some cases, to real physical danger it also increases psychological pressure at a time when many are already under a huge amount of stress. (…)