Attacks on Health Care Workers in Historical Pandemics and COVID-19

Previous pandemics have been (mis)used for (geo)political reasons, for terrorism purposes, and in times of conflict. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been no exception with populist politicians challenging the relations with China, calling it the “Chinese virus,” certain state actors setting up cy...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Disaster medicine and public health preparedness 2022-12, Vol.17, p.e309-e309, Article e309
Main Authors: van Stekelenburg, Brett C. A., De Cauwer, Harald, Barten, Dennis G., Mortelmans, Luc J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome
AIDS
Communicable Disease Control
Community support
Concepts in Disaster Medicine
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 - epidemiology
COVID-19 vaccines
Disease prevention
Disease transmission
Domestic violence
Ebola virus
Epidemics
Fear & phobias
Government
Health care
Health Personnel
HIV
Hospitals
Human immunodeficiency virus
Humans
Measles
Medical personnel
Pandemics
Pandemics - prevention & control
Poliomyelitis
Quarantine
Religion
SARS-CoV-2
Search strategies
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Stigma
Terrorism
United States - epidemiology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Previous pandemics have been (mis)used for (geo)political reasons, for terrorism purposes, and in times of conflict. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been no exception with populist politicians challenging the relations with China, calling it the “Chinese virus,” certain state actors setting up cyberterrorist actions against health care organizations in the United States and Europe, and a reported increase of violent acts against health care workers. Aside from state-driven factors, both left- and right-wing activists and anti-vaccination activists adhering to conspiracy theories are a threat for health care organizations. Furthermore, socioeconomic, religious, and cultural factors play a role in why health care is a possible target of violence. Fear of viral pathogens, fury about financial losses due to the pandemic and governmental measures such as lockdowns, anger because of mandatory quarantines, and the disruption of burial rituals are among the reasons for people to revolt against health care providers. Here, we provide a narrative review of the impact of violence against health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and earlier pandemics, and suggest preventive strategies.
ISSN:1935-7893
1938-744X
DOI:10.1017/dmp.2022.275