Violence Against Health Care in Nigeria and South Sudan: Frontline Health Worker Perspectives on Threats and Solutions

Abstract

Background/Introduction:

Health staff in South Sudan and Nigeria face extreme risks while providing services: in 2021, at least 18 health care workers were killed in South Sudan and Nigeria, while 32 were kidnapped. Reporting of such incidents takes place via the WHO coordinated SS. However, such event reporting is not designed to capture “lower scale” security incidents, nor does it capture possible solutions. As such, the IRC in coordination with the Health Cluster and national organizations are conducting a survey to complement the existing analysis with insights of frontline health care workers, to support program design, funding requests, and advocacy activities. Research questions include:

• What are the most common incidents of violence against health care workers?

• What has been the impact of these incidents on staff well-being, on the health system/sector, and on access to health care for the wider community?

• What are the priorities in preventing such incidents and reducing their impact?

Objectives:

To identify incidents of violence against health care as experienced by health care staff in 2022.

To identify health workers perspective on causes, impact, and what works in terms of prevention and response.

Method/Description:

A self-administered, online survey targeting all health staff working for the humanitarian community in South Sudan and Northeastern Nigeria.

Results/Outcomes:

This study is on-going with results expected by early September.

Conclusion:

This study is on-going with results expected by early September.