3,000 Health Workers Dead, Protests Silenced

More than 3,000 health care workers worldwide have died from COVID-19—and that’s likely a “significant underestimate,” according to an Amnesty International report published today.

In addition to the risks of caring for COVID patients (often with scarce protective equipment), health workers face reprisals if they speak out about care issues, the Irish Times reports.

Countries with the most health worker deaths include:

• 545 – Russia
• 540 – UK
• 507 – US
• 351 – Brazil
• 248 – Mexico

Reprisals include the detention of health workers in Egypt, the police shutdown of a protest in Malaysia, and the firing of a US nursing assistant who posted a Facebook video on the PPE shortage.

“Health workers on the front line are the first to know if government policy is not working, and authorities who silence them cannot seriously claim to be prioritising public health,” said Colm O’Gorman, executive director of Amnesty International Ireland.

Courtesy:Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health