Global Health Matters – Live Event Series

Emergency in Ukraine: Ongoing Humanitarian and Health Response

• Date:  Thursday – March 24th, 2022
• Time: 1-2 pm Irish Time

Just four weeks after the intensification of conflict in Russia, more than 3.6 million people have now fled violence in Ukraine. With the massive influx of refugees to neighbouring countries such as Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova and Poland, health needs among the displaced have reached emergency levels.

In this live web event, we discuss how the international community is responding and the nature of that response. We gather speakers from organisations working on the ground, including INGOs: Amnesty International, GOAL, Americares, and the UN’s international Organization for Migration.

What are the practical needs of supplies and medicines among the displaced? How is the response coping with the COVID-19 issues specific to the crisis? What are the human rights violations and their implications on refugees, including the indiscriminate attacks on civilians? What are the mental health needs of fleeing populations? Join us for a discussion on how the immediate needs of the people of Ukraine can be met, and the plans that are in place to safeguard their health and welfare into the near future. 

Moderator

• Nadine Ferris France, Executive Director, Irish Global Health Network

Speakers:

• Unarose Hogan: Senior Infectious Disease Advisor and Emergency Medical Responder in Ukraine, Americares
• Joe Lowry: Senior Media and Communication Officer, International Organization for Migration (United Nations)
• Colm O’Gorman: Executive Director, Amnesty International (Ireland)
• Cristian Ghilardi: GOAL Senior Humanitarian Advisor

SPEAKER DETAILS

• Unarose Hogan has spent the past seventeen years working in global health security, infection control, academia and clinical practice; primarily living in Sub Saharan Africa but also working in Central and South East Asia and Eastern Europe. Presently she is working as Senior Infectious Disease Advisor with Americares, a health-focused relief and development organization that saves lives and improves health for people affected by poverty or disaster. From the onset of COVID-19 she worked with WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, focusing on hospital readiness for COVID-19 in the EURO region. Formerly she has worked in several positions with WHO (Albania/ Geneva) and served as Infection Control Advisor for Medical Operations during the Ebola Response with United Nations Mission Emergency Ebola Response (UNMEER, Sierra Leone).  She is a board member at the Irish Global Health Network and has served as expert advisory member on the COVID-19 Global Perinatal Taskforce. 
• Joe Lowry is Senior Communications and Media Officer for UN Migration Agency IOM. With over 20 years experience, he has worked both in journalism and as a Communications specialist in the humanitarian emergency and development sector. His first-hand experience of global, frontline major events in countries around the world including in Haiti, Somalia, Chernobyl, Vietnam, Moldova, and the Philippines among others, has given him a wide and varied perspective on international humanitarian emergencies. Joe also has a history of covering long-term health crises in the global south in particular those relating to HIV, TB, COVID-19 and other major pandemics.
• Colm O’Gorman is the Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland, a position he has held since 2008. Prior to taking up that role, he was the founder and director of One in Four, the national organisation that supports women and men who have experienced sexual violence. He is also a former member of Seanad Eireann, an author and regular media commentator on human rights and social justice issues. 
• Cristian Ghilardi is the GOAL Senior Humanitarian Advisor for Ireland.  He joined GOAL in 2018.  Cristian has a master’s in international development, postgraduate in Humanitarian action and has significant overseas experience in Humanitarian response in Kenya, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Yemen with MSF and also with Care International in Asia. He has also worked as Health Integration Commissioning Manager for the NHS in England. 

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