141st APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

294454
Rape in war: The health professional response


Tuesday, November 5, 2013 : 1:10 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Susannah Sirkin, MA, Physicians for Human Rights, Cambridge, MA
     
As sexual violence continues to be used as a strategy of armed conflict in dozens of countries, the health sector is challenged to help prevent the crimes, treat survivors, and document evidence to support justice. The presentation will review current models and international guidelines for comprehensive support to victims, obstacles that are faced by clinicians and victims in several conflict zones, such as Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya and Syria, as well as current global initiatives to support an improved multi-sector response.

Learning Areas:

Clinical medicine applied in public health
Ethics, professional and legal requirements
Other professions or practice related to public health
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines

Learning Objectives:
List the physical and psychological consequences of sexual violence in the context of armed conflicts dentify the roles of health professionals as first responders to sexual violence. Discuss the obstacles and challenges in providing support to survivors. Describe key current in-country and international initiatives to improve the response.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have authored and edited numerous reports and articles on the medical consequences of human rights violations, physical evidence of human rights abuses, and physician complicity in violations. I co-developed and directed the first post-graduate course in medicine and human rights initiated at Harvard Medical School in 1992, and lectures regularly on health and human rights in medical schools and schools of public health.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4231.0: Health and health workers in situations of conflict