Health Workforce Challenges in Humanitarian Settings

This webinar, hosted by SAEM's Global Emergency Medicine Academy (GEMA) Humanitarian Task Force (HTF), will feature a panel of local health professionals from Syria, Sudan, and Palestine/Myanmar as they discuss the challenges faced by the health care workforce in these ongoing humanitarian crises. Speakers will discuss their personal experiences of violence, insecurity, training disruption, and staffing shortages, as well as the future consequences for the health care system. Disparities in economic status, cadre, seniority, gender, and rural versus urban settings will also be outlined.

Panelists

• Dr. Mohamed Hamze is a Syrian dentist and the Health Research Manager at the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), specializing in evidence-based humanitarian response and conflict-affected settings. His work focuses on health care access, health systems strengthening, health workforce dynamics, and the protection of health within the Syrian context.
• Dr. Omer Mahgoub is a Sudanese general practitioner experienced in emergency medicine, an assistant researcher, and a communication officer at the Sudanese American Physicians Association (SAPA). He previously worked with MSF in Sudan delivering care to people affected by the conflict.
• Dr. Nisreen Shehada is a health care professional and current master's student in Public Health at Imperial College London. She earned her BSc in dentistry from the University of Palestine. She was displaced from Gaza in 2024 due to the ongoing war.