Christos Christou has been chairman of the crisis relief organization for three years. In addition to the coronary pandemic and the Russian war of aggression, the world is now facing a nutritional crisis.
Christos Christou says he was a final year medical student in Thessaloniki, Greece, when he saw a poster in the university hallway.
– Their guns will kill, save us, the poster read.
After graduation, Christou decided to join the organization advertised in the poster.
– I didn’t want to get stuck in one Greek hospital my whole life, Christou recalls his decision.
Two decades later, he sits in the Helsinki office of Doctors Without Borders as the international chairman of the entire organization.
Christou has held the presidency since the summer of 2019, and the three-year term is coming to an end.
The season has seen the deadliest pandemic of the century, the worsening of the climate crisis and Russia’s offensive war.
– Our operations are more important now than ever, Christou says.
A power department was built on the Ukrainian train car
When asked about Ukraine, Christou is the first to say that we should remember that Ukraine is a well-developed country.
– Ukraine’s health care was fully prepared to meet the challenge of the Russian invasion. There are a lot of well-trained nursing staff in Ukraine, Christou says.
Indeed, humanitarian aid to Ukraine has not only meant field hospitals and vaccination points, as is often the case in crisis areas.
Instead, Doctors Without Borders had already provided Ukrainian doctors and nurses with training on crisis situations and war injuries before the Russian attack in February.
Christou adds, however, that as the war drags on, Ukraine threatens to run out of medicines and hospital supplies.
Christou himself has field experience in Iraq, Cameroon, Zambia and Sudan, among others. He recalls that the most effective relief work is not always the most eye-catching.
– The eyes of the world are now on the front, but I consider it a priority to secure the treatment of chronic diseases. A good example is diabetes. Insulin saves countless lives.
It is difficult to send aid to the worst-affected region of eastern Ukraine, as many hospitals have not been safe from the Russian bombing.
– We must have been inventive. For the first time ever, we have turned train carriages into hospitals, Christou reveals.
Patients requiring continuous intensive care by rail have been able to be transferred from eastern Ukraine to the western part of the country.
The consequences of a nutritional crisis can be catastrophic
Christou recalls that the war in Ukraine has not ended other world crises.
On the contrary, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated existing problems. Christou, in particular, fears that much of the world is facing a nutritional crisis, the consequences of which could be unpredictable.
According to Christou, the Russian invasion must not be seen as the only cause of world food shortages. Due to the climate crisis, the heat is increasingly polluting hundreds, and the West has left many areas affected by conflict too much to its own devices, he thinks.
Of the countries in critical need, Christou specifically mentions Afghanistan and Yemen. Of the entire regions, the Sahel and the Horn of Africa.
– We have already seen huge numbers of malnourished children in these places, Christou says.
Access to humanitarian aid in crisis areas has become more difficult
Christou regrets that it has become more difficult to provide humanitarian aid in crisis areas.
– There have always been blind spots in the world where, for one reason or another, humanitarian aid has not been delivered, but the reasons have changed.
Humanitarian organizations often operate in areas where state and non-state actors are in armed conflict with each other. It is often referred to by the government as a terrorist organization that threatens its power.
– The state defines groups that oppose it as terrorists. If doctors go to treat these people, doctors will also be branded terrorists, Christou says.
The accusation of involvement in terrorism may already come from a doctor attempting to treat civilians in an area controlled by a group defined as terrorist.
– This is a theme I repeat everywhere now. The misuse of anti-terrorism legislation criminalises humanitarian work.
People can be helped, but the corona treatment failed
Christou’s three-year term as head of the relief organization is coming to an end.
What makes it possible to cope with work in a world of ongoing crises?
– In 2004, I worked for the first time in sub-Saharan Africa. The HIV situation was very difficult and the medical community was skeptical about the effectiveness of the aid, Christou recalls.
– But just like before with tuberculosis, we slowly got a significant decline in AIDS-Deaths. Such experiences keep me in this organization, he continues.
– And what are you disappointed with? I ask finally.
Christou immediately responds that the failure of the international community to control the corona pandemic.
– The scientific community succeeded. They developed diagnostics and vaccines for us in record time, but we fail to distribute them in solidarity to all who need them.
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