entertainment -WSS

entertainment

author：Wikipedia 2025-10-02 00:43:05 - browse：55

In just two weeks, the brutality of the Israel-Hamas conflict has shocked the world. But one of its most heartbreaking aspects — the destruction of the already struggling health care system in Gaza — is part of a decades-long pattern during war both in the region and around the world.

Leonard Rubenstein is a distinguished professor of practice at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and author of “Perilous Medicine: The Struggle to Protect Health Care From the Violence of War.” On this episode of the “First Opinion Podcast,” we spoke about health care in war, the Geneva Conventions, and why it’s so difficult to hold those who break international law accountable.

Gaza’s health care system was in dire straits even before the most recent conflict began, Rubenstein said. Now, after an Israeli blockade of resources including food, water, and electricity, facilities in Gaza are short on urgently needed supplies. People who need medical attention are scared to go to hospitals, worrying that they could be hit intentionally or accidentally. “There’s a lot of evidence, and it shouldn’t surprise anyone, that when hospitals are attacked, people are afraid to go there. They’re afraid that they’re targeted,” he said. And traumatic injuries are not the only medical problems that need treatment: People continue to have other health care needs, like cancer or diabetes, and thousands of Gazans are pregnant.

Despite what he’s observed in Gaza, Syria, Ukraine, and elsewhere around the world, he continues to push for adherence to international law.

“Fighting for human rights and fighting for protection of health care means you’re against very powerful forces, and many times they don’t want to comply for a whole lot of reasons — because they don’t care, or because it’s too hard or inconvenient. … You just have to keep pushing,” he told me.

This conversation was based on Rubenstein’s recent First Opinion essay, “Why Gaza health care facilities and workers have suffered so much violence.”

Be sure to sign up for the weekly “First Opinion Podcast” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Previous article： In Memoriam: Notable people who died in 2023
Next article： HIV vaccine remains elusive. Immunologists keep trying new ideas

hotspot

WSS

Dems pitch expanding Medicare power to negotiate drug prices

The haunting brain science of long Covid

Solving academic medical centers' existential crisis

UHS says company favors patients whose insurance pays more

New lawsuit accuses health insurer Cigna of denying claims in bulk

New lawsuit accuses health insurer Cigna of denying claims in bulk

knowledge

entertainment

entertainment

ChatGPT in medicine: STAT answers readers' burning questions

NVIDIA and Google execs on the future of AI and drug discovery

New air purifier tech could be key to improving indoor air quality

Dems pitch expanding Medicare power to negotiate drug prices

Novavax promises a turnaround & Lilly roils the obesity market

It's time to retire 'poor historian' from clinicians' vocabularies

Bright Health sells Medicare Advantage business to Molina

New lawsuit accuses health insurer Cigna of denying claims in bulk

Activists slam private health insurers over coverage restrictions

NVIDIA and Google execs on the future of AI and drug discovery

knowledge

Democrats decry new health bill for going easy on private equity

US economic growth accelerated in 2nd quarter, exceeding expectations and quieting recession fears

HIV vaccine remains elusive. Immunologists keep trying new ideas

Cytokinetics CEO stresses company can launch heart drug on its own

Why patients can’t get everything they want on drug pricing

Democrats decry new health bill for going easy on private equity

hotspot

focus

focus

knowledge