Challenges of Medical Relief in War Discussed, Apr 13, 2007, Harvard Public Health NOW

Frederick 'Skip' Burkle and Claude Bruderlein

Frederick "Skip" Burkle (left) and Claude Bruderlein

On April 4, Dr. Frederick "Skip" Burkle gave a first-hand account of the complex series of events and policy changes regarding the U.S.-run public health program in Iraq at a lecture in Kresge G-3. In 2003, Burkle was the designated Interim Minister of Health in Iraq and Senior Medical Officer on the Disaster Assistance Response Team for the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance at USAID. He wrote about the experience in the October 9-15, 2004, issue of The Lancet.

Also at the event, Claude Bruderlein, international humanitarian law expert, provided background context on how the Geneva Conventions apply to the United States' presence in Iraq.

The talk was one of two lectures organized by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative on the theme of "Humanitarian Obligations in Iraq." The second event took place at HMS on April 5 and was called "Counting Civilian Dead."