Blaise Matuidi, ICRC & UEFA team up to protect health workers
May 21, 2021
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and its social responsibility partner, UEFA, have partnered with French football legend Blaise Matuidi to highlight the urgent need to protect health personnel based in areas of civil conflict. Using the global visibility of football, they have launched a campaign to raise awareness on the dangers being faced by surgeons, nurses and health carers working on the frontlines of the world’s conflict zones. From 2016 to 2020, there were an estimated 3,780 attacks on these professionals in 33 countries.
2018 World Cup winner Matuidi signed on to the campaign after witnessing first-hand the conditions doctors and nurses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) - a country dear to his heart - worked under. The DRC is one of the places with the highest number of incidents. “It’s horrible that the people who take care of us are victims of violence, in the DRC and elsewhere,” he said. “Surgeons, hospital porters, nurses – they should all have the same popular support as us footballers.”
The campaign video created by Saatchi & Saatchi depicts an alternative world where people await the result of a life-saving operation with the same kind of tension reserved for football results – and health workers are revered and celebrated as heroes.
"This campaign is taking us through surgery as we would follow a big game," said the video's director, Stéphane Barbato. "The surgeon replaces the footballer, from the warm-up to the handing over of a trophy. The role reversal, reinforced by Blaise Matuidi's final intervention, makes us aware of the difference in treatment between footballers and health workers."
The UN reported that in 2019, the number of people fleeing war, persecution and conflict exceeded 79.5 million - the highest level ever recorded. The ICRC believes that Matuidi and UEFA's support will help focus the public's attention on the need to improve security for health personnel in conflict zones.
"Current efforts to protect health-care staff and facilities are not enough. We need concrete action: stronger laws that are properly implemented, secure health-care facilities and appropriate training," said Maciej Polkowski, head of the ICRC's Health Care at Risk initiative.
In one program, the ICRC is partnering with local hospital administrators to reduce the number of weapons being taken into emergency departments. Within five months of implementing this new approach in one South Asian country, the number of weapons seized increased from two to 42 per month, significantly reducing the risks to patients and caregivers.
The ICRC became UEFA's first charity partner in 1997. Since then, European football's governing body has donated approximately €3.5 million to support the ICRC’s mission to protect and assist victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence.