One Surgery is a platform dedicated to the provision of safe, affordable surgery worldwide are we are pleased to release our 10th issue of our publication, Voices of One Surgery. This publication aims to give a bold voice to the inspiring global surgery movement, where diverse people all over the world try to tackle this neglected healthcare crisis.
The full publication can be downloaded and shared for free here: https://voices.one.surgery/?smd_process_download=1&download_id=6262
In this latest publication, we tackle some of the issues related to Black Lives Matter within the context of global surgery, and would like to share with the read.cash community, the introduction written by Aemon Fissha, a medical student in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
November 2020
Dear Global Surgery Enthusiasts, Readers & Citizens of the World,
The words "I can't breathe" are familiar to me in various ways, from hearing those words in the hospital by my patients struggling to breathe with chronic lung disease, to the streets of my crowded city, where someone may struggle with the fumes from an old car's exhaust pipe. However, those same words have recently transformed into a new, more complex meaning bringing much pain to my heart.
Racism, xenophobia and intolerance are problems prevalent in all societies and throughout moments of history, entire races have been treated as lesser humans. Currently, these range from the oppression of students in schools, job and housing discrimination, and lack of access to quality health care. During these times, we must expand our views and put ourselves in the shoes of those who have vigorously been quelled just to ensure the status quo. We believe that the existence of racial discrimination and racism is a matter of concern to all human beings, that racism and racial prejudice are significant factors contributing to the inhibition of human rights and fundamentals to freedoms.
With the Black Lives Matter movement, we stand in solidarity with black health workers and black communities worldwide. In our hopes to eradicate racism and discrimination, we are committed to engaging the medical community in dialogue around this essential context. By fighting and advocating against racism, we give someone a chance, a chance at life, a chance to live and finally a chance to explore their full potential. The only way humanity stands a chance amid all this chaos and uncertainty is if we choose to stand together and raise our voices against intolerant attitudes.
We hence ask of you to put in the efforts needed to tackle racial injustice and all kinds of inequality within your environment and day to day life, to become a part of the generation that not only fought the battle to eradicate a viral pandemic but also a generation that destroyed a much deadlier disease, racism. Our efforts advocating for justice shall continue so that one day a black student like myself can feel free to live, breathe and serve in a world that sees him not through the colour of his/her skin but as a HUMAN BEING.
With love always,
Aemon Fissha
The full publication can be downloaded and shared for free here: https://voices.one.surgery/?smd_process_download=1&download_id=6262
The term “I can’t breathe” is familiar to me in many ways when I hear these words in the hospital