March 2021 Newsletter
What is it really like to be a doctor in a war zone? |
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Welcome to the David Nott Foundation’s February update. The pandemic has given us the time to reflect on the amazing doctors that we have trained on past HEST courses. Each one of them has a story to tell. Some go to work every day while bullets tear through the walls of their operating theatres; some fight to save lives while armed groups fight each other in the streets. In this booklet, we highlight eight such doctors and give them the platform they deserve. READ: ‘War Doctor Heroes’ photobooklet on the DNF website with foreword from Elly Nott. |
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Last year, the staff of Wellcome chose the David Nott Foundation as their charity of the year for 2020/21. Since then, they have consistently given outstanding effort to the cause, from completing challenge events to auctioning lunches with Director Sir Jeremy Farrar. To each and every member of Wellcome’s staff: thank you. Your effort will reverberate around the world as we train more war doctors, and they save more lives. For small charities like the David Nott Foundation, every donation can have a disproportionately large impact. Every sponsored run, bake sale or event goes a long way to delivering vital surgical training in locations that need it. |
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David Nott Wins Human Rights Award
On the 2nd of February, David Nott was awarded the Hans Albrecht Foundation’s Human Rights Award for 2021. The award was presented by Lord Daniel Finkelstein.
The Hans Albrecht Foundation’s mission is to advance human rights in the UK, particularly with regards to children, equalities, those with disabilities and refugees. The Award honours individuals or organisations that have made outstanding contributions to the field of human rights. Read more about the Hans Albrecht Foundation on their website.
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As a result of our membership, you will be able to receive full tax exemption status. To donate from the USA, please go to the new dedicated section of our website. |
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Earlier this month, FDNF Manchester hosted a fantastic conference entitled: ‘MDT On the Front Line’. This was a stimulating day of speeches and workshops led by some of the field’s most distinguished practitioners. Alongside David Nott was our own Jon Barden, leading a workshop on humanitarian operations delivery, and DNF Faculty colleague Ammar Darwish who also led a workshop. |
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Make Someone’s Day This EasterEaster is a perfect time to reach out to loved ones and friends. In this time of social distancing, a handwritten card feels like an authentic connection in a way that an email cannot. Make someone's day with this beautiful card by Peter Suart, or choose from our extensive range on our website - proceeds from which will benefit the David Nott Foundation. |
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Wellcome Staff Charity of the Year
Our partnership with Wellcome will have a profound and lasting impact on both war doctors and their patients in conflict zones. Today we say thank you and recognise the huge and very real impact that Wellcome’s generosity will have on our work.
Last year, the staff of Wellcome chose the David Nott Foundation as their charity of the year for 2020/21. Since then, they have consistently given outstanding effort to the cause, from completing challenge events to auctioning lunches with Director Sir Jeremy Farrar. Particular congratulations go to Mala Gaonkar for winning the latter - we can only imagine how fascinating that conversation will be! Mala is a philanthropist and leader in the field of public health, and we are proud to be associated with her as a result of Wellcome's auction.
To each and every member of Wellcome’s staff: thank you. Your effort will reverberate around the world as we train more war doctors, and they save more lives.
For small charities like the David Nott Foundation, every donation can have a disproportionately large impact. Every sponsored run, bake sale or ticket sale goes a long way to delivering vital surgical training in locations that need it.
Elly Nott Leads DNF's Celebration of International Women's Day 2021
To mark International Women's Day 2021, David Nott Foundation Co-Founder Elly Nott writes:
This International Women’s Day I will be thinking about Mariam, Aiya, Aesha and Farida.
Mariam lives in Palestine, Aiya and Aesha in Libya and Farida in Syria but I have had the honour to meet them all at courses run by the David Nott Foundation (DNF), the charity I Co-Founded in 2015.
The DNF has a simple mission; to equip doctors with the skills they need to save more lives in areas affected by conflict and natural disaster. In these places, resources are often scarce, and medical education and training disrupted. We believe everyone deserves access to high-quality care, from highly-trained professionals, no matter where they live. Our impact resonates long after our team has left because the knowledge and techniques we teach are shared and go on to improve the lives of whole communities for years to come.
It remains a fact that whilst women form 70% of workers in the health and social sector[1] worldwide, they are underrepresented in surgery, particularly at the most senior levels. Worldwide statistics are difficult to obtain but in the UK women made up 13.2% of consultant surgeons in England in 2020, according the to the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS).[2]
Knowing the sort of statistics that exist, we as an organisation are eager to encourage the participation of women in all our courses and particularly to apply for our scholarship programme which, pre-COVID, brought doctors from around the world for a weeks’ intensive training in partnership with the RCS. We were also proud to have a 50-50 male-female teaching Faculty on our last mission abroad, to Yemen in 2020.
Our courses are a two-way process. We share knowledge; knowledge that is the product of decades’ experience in areas affected by conflict and catastrophe, and invite discussion. Our Faculty never stop learning and return from every course energised by the doctors they meet, ready to adapt future teaching to be as relevant and applicable as it can be.
I first met Farida during specialist obstetric and neonatal resuscitation training we held in collaboration with Hand in Hand for Aid and Development in Gaziantep in September 2018. Of the participants, 90% were women and I remember watching as they debated with the faculty throughout lectures and on into the coffee breaks. Aiya and Aesha attended the course we ran in Misrata, Libya, in March 2018, Aesha driving some 1000km from Sabha, in the south of the country, to attend. We encouraged them to apply for scholarships and after some major efforts to secure their visas, we welcomed them to the UK for further training. I shall never forget the knock on our door at home and answering it to see Aiya holding up two bags of gifts she had brought for my young daughters.
Mariam, I first met in Ramallah in March 2017. It was a memorable first meeting as that afternoon there was a boiler explosion in the venue we held the teaching. The lights went out, alarms sounded and all around there was chaos but in the darkness an arm linked in mine and guided me through to safety. It was Mariam, with whom I remain in touch and continue to follow her progress and commitment to her career as a surgeon.
We #ChooseToChallenge the under-representation of women in surgery and we #ChooseToChallenge the preconception of what a humanitarian surgeon looks like.
[1] https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/311314/WHO-HIS-HWF-Gender-WP1-2019.1-eng.pdf
[2] https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/careers-in-surgery/women-in-surgery/statistics/