Gino Strada
Gino Strada
| Born | April 21, 1948 |
|---|---|
| Country | Italy |
| Awarded for | Emergency medical relief in the Middle East and Africa for refugees' “right to be cured.” Contributing to spreading a culture of peace through an anti-war movement |
| Co-laureate |
Gino Strada is an Italian surgeon who has devoted himself to providing medical and surgical care in war-torn countries around the world over the past 28 years. He has helped save lives by providing free-of-charge medical treatment to 9 million people with great love for humanity transcending national borders, and has taken the lead in an anti-war campaign to protect and dignify human rights.
Educational Background
- 1978 Postgraduate school, specialist in Emergency Surgery, University of Milan (Italy)
- 2004 Honorary degree, Engineering, Basilicata University (Italy)
- 2006 Doctor of Humane Letters, Colorado College of Colorado Springs (US)
Professional Background
- 1978 ~ 1984 Surgeon, Institute of Emergency Surgery, University of Milan (Italy)
- 1981 Visiting Surgeon, Groote Schuur Hospital, Capetown, South Africa.
Visiting Surgeon, Harefield Hospital, Harefield, U.K. - 1981 ~ 1982 Visiting Surgeon, University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- 1983 ~ 1984 Visiting Surgeon, Stanford University, CA, USA
- 1985 ~ 1986 Surgeon, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Hospital of Bergamo, Italy
- 1987 ~ 1988 Surgeon, Emergency Department, Rho Hospital, Italy
- 1989 Surgeon, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Hospital, Quetta, Pakistan
- 1990 Surgeon, ICRC Dessie Hospital, Dessie, Ethiopia
Surgeon, ICRC Hospital, Khao-I-Dang, Thailand - 1991 Surgeon, ICRC Hospital, Kabul, Afghanistan
Chief Surgeon, Hospital of Ayacucho, Ayacucho, Peru - 1992 Surgeon, ICRC Hospital, Kabul, Afghanistan
- 1993 Chief Surgeon, Balbala Hospital, Djibouti
Chief Surgeon, Berbera Hospital, Somalia - 1994 Surgeon, Koshevo Hospital, Bosnia-Herzegovina
- 1994 ~ 2007 Chief Surgeon, EMERGENCY Hospitals: Kigali, Rwanda / Suleimania and Erbil, North Iraq / Battambang, Cambodia / Anabah and Kabul, Afghanistan / Asmara, Eritrea
- 2007 ~ 2014 Cardiac Surgeon, Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery (Khartoum, Sudan)
- 1994 ~ 2016 Founder and Executive Director of EMERGENCY NGO
Major Awards
- 2003 Antonio Feltrinelli Prize (Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei Foundation)
- 2015 Right Livelihood Award (Right Livelihood Award Foundation)
- 2016 ESTE Plaquette (European Society for Trauma and Emergency Surgery)
Miscellaneous
- 1999 Published his autobiography Green Parrots: A War Surgeon's Diary, for which he was awarded the Viareggio Versilia Prize
- 2002 Published the book Buskashi, A Journey Inside War, which was featured in a PBS documentary "Afghanistan 1380"
- 2013 A short documentary film called "Open Heart" was made about Dr. Strada's work with the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery in Sudan and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Documentary.
Disseminating emergency aid at the forefront of conflict in Africa and the Middle East
Gino Strada is an Italian surgeon who, for 28 years, has been providing humanitarian relief to the victims of war and poverty, and refugees around the world.
He began his career as a war surgeon with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in 1989, and in 1994 he founded the international humanitarian organization called EMERGENCY. EMERGENCY’s mandate is to provide high quality, free medical and surgical care to the victims of war, land mines and poverty. Over the years, EMERGENCY has been working in 17 countries, building and managing hospitals, medical and surgical centers, rehabilitation centers, pediatric clinics, primary health clinics, a maternity center and a cardiac surgery center. EMERGENCY is currently working in Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Iraq, Italy, Sierra Leone and Sudan.
In Afghanistan, EMERGENCY runs two surgical centers for war victims in Kabul and Lashkargah and one hospital in Anabah (Panjshir Valley), which includes a maternity center. In 2007, EMERGENCY established the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery, a Centre of Excellence in Sudan (Africa) providing free high-quality heart surgery to patients with acquired or congenital heart diseases. The center is the hub of a regional program for cardiac surgery and has received patients coming from 27 countries. At the center, EMERGENCY has performed more than 6,500 surgeries and more than 56,000 cardiac examinations. The center received world-class ratings for its work.
Since 2009, EMERGENCY has operated the only free-of-charge pediatric hospital in the Central African Republic. In 2014, when the Ebola virus (EVD) spread in West Africa, EMERGENCY established a 100-bed Ebola Treatment Centre in Goderich, Freetown, Sierra Leone, in cooperation with the British Government's Department for International Development.
The center, equipped with a 24-bed intensive care unit, set up a revolutionary approach for the treatment of Ebola in West Africa. Since July 2014, EMERGENCY has also been very active in response to the humanitarian crisis in Iraq, where it operates 6 primary healthcare centers in refugee and IDP (internally displaced persons) camps. Since 2006, EMERGENCY has been running a widespread program in Italy to respond to the increasing needs of the migrant population from the landings at the Sicilian ports to urban ghettos and countryside shantytowns.
EMERGENCY cooperates with the United Nations to effectively respond to the needs of the population in danger. In 2008, EMERGENCY became an official partner of the United Nations Office of Public Information, and, since 2015, has obtained a Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Taking the lead in protecting the dignity of human rights by guaranteeing the “right to be cured”
Gino Strada has actively promoted the value of peace, solidarity, and human rights, providing high quality, free of charge treatment without discrimination, in the firm belief that "the right to be cured" is a basic and inalienable right of all people.
In Africa, where there is little awareness of the availability of health care, his focus is on spreading the perception that health care supports the basic human right to live like human beings and that the state should take the lead. Through his efforts, the governments of 11 African nations (Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda) have signed EMERGENCY's "Manifesto for a Human Rights-based Medicine" (a medical declaration of human rights) that recognizes "the right of people to receive medical treatment" and will make efforts to provide health care services free of charge.
In Africa, where there is little awareness of the availability of health care, his focus is on spreading the perception that health care supports the basic human right to live like human beings and that the state should take the lead. Through his efforts, the governments of 11 African nations (Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda) have signed EMERGENCY's "Manifesto for a Human Rights-based Medicine" (a medical declaration of human rights) that recognizes "the right of people to receive medical treatment" and will make efforts to provide health care services free of charge.
In 2007, Dr. Strada established the first of the 11 Centres of Medical Excellence in Khartoum (Sudan), the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery. Building on the experience of the Salam Centre, in 2010, 11 countries adhered to the African Network of Medical Excellence (ANME), a project aiming at building Centres of Medical Excellence to strengthen national heath systems with a regional perspective.
This network hopes to promote and build peaceful relations in the region thanks an enduring cooperation in the medical sector. The construction of the second center, a Regional Hospital for Paediatric Surgery in Uganda, is about to start and is planned to end in December 2018.
EMERGENCY medical staff provide free medical and surgical care to all those in need without discrimination respecting three key principles: "equality," "high quality health care," and "social responsibility." EMERGENCY also provides thorough medical education and training to the national staff with the goal of handing over its facilities to local health authorities, whenever operational and clinical autonomy are fully achieved.
Leading the peace culture with "anti-war" and "prohibition of production of anti-personnel landmines" campaigns
Gino Strada is engaged in anti-war movements with a solid moral and political position that war must be abolished on the grounds that war tramples on human dignity and life. As such, it cannot be justified for any reason.
In 1997, Gino Strada, who for over decades has seen civilian casualties and human misery caused by land mines in conflict zones, enthusiastically campaigned to ban the production of mines in Italy, achieving that goal in 1998. In addition, he strongly opposed and campaigned against Italy's intervention in the war in Afghanistan in 2001 and in Iraq in 2003. In 2002, EMERGENCY organized a massive campaign with the support of half a million people protesting against the war.
In 1997, Gino Strada, who for over decades has seen civilian casualties and human misery caused by land mines in conflict zones, enthusiastically campaigned to ban the production of mines in Italy, achieving that goal in 1998. In addition, he strongly opposed and campaigned against Italy's intervention in the war in Afghanistan in 2001 and in Iraq in 2003. In 2002, EMERGENCY organized a massive campaign with the support of half a million people protesting against the war.
In 2003, as the war in Afghanistan worsened and Iraq began, EMERGENCY started a mobilization of the civil society and collected signatures for the anti-war movement, asking government groups to stop the fire “before hatred and violence become the only language of mankind."
The appeal was signed by world-renowned figures including MIT Professor Noam Chomsky, Le Monde newspaper diplomatic editor Ignacio Ramonet, Former President of Italy (1992-1999) Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, 1992 Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchù, 1986 Nobel Prize winner in Medicine Rita Levi Montalcini, 1997 Nobel Prize winner in Literature Dario Fo, and 1988 Nobel Prize winner in Physics Jack Steinberger, among others.
When, after intervening in the war, the Italian Foreign Ministry offered support to EMERGENCY's hospitals in Afghanistan, Dr. Strada declined the proposal stating that EMERGENCY could not receive funding from the Italian government, which was actively contributing to the war.
Dr. Gino Strada is appealing to the world that "In order to guarantee a peaceful future for mankind, war, which denies the human rights necessary for survival, should disappear, and the best thing the present generation can do for future generations is to work together to make a world without war."
Awarding of Medal and Plaque to Dr. Gino Strada
Founder Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon awards Italian surgeon Dr. Gino Strada with the medal.
ⓒ 2017. Sunhak Peace Prize
Committee Chairman Dr. Il Sik Hong awards Italian surgeon Dr. Gino strada with the plaque.
ⓒ 2017. Sunhak Peace Prize
A commemorative photo shoot following the awarding of the medal and plaque (from left to right : Founder Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, laureate Italian surgeon Dr. Gino strada, Committee Chairman Dr. Il Sik Hong)
ⓒ 2017. Sunhak Peace Prize
Video of the awarding
Acceptance Speech
Italian surgeon Dr. Gino Strada giving his Acceptance Speech during the 2017 Sunhak Peace Prize Award Ceremony.
ⓒ 2017. Sunhak Peace Prize
Video of Acceptance Speech
Ladies and gentlemen, It is an honour for me to receive the Sunhak Peace Prize, particularly in times increasingly marked by war and violence when speaking of peace is perceived as unrealistic and utopian. I wish to thank Rev. Sun Myung Moon and Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon for devoting their lives to achieving universal peace and promoting the fundamental values of peace, dialogue and cooperation in the name of the human family.
Now more than ever, there is a compelling need for building a better world for future generations and sustainable peace. I have personally seen the atrocities of war and its devastating impact. I have spent the last thirty years of my life in war-torn countries, operating on patients in Rwanda, Peru, Ethiopia, Somalia, Cambodia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Sudan. In these and other countries, EMERGENCY – the humanitarian organization I founded 23 years ago - is committed to providing free and high-quality medical and surgical care to the victims of war, whose effects are not limited to the wounded and refugees, but have severe repercussions on the future of entire generations.
Many of the conflicts that are currently ravaging countries reducing populations to misery and hunger are often undeclared or deliberately silenced. The massacres are increasing, to the point that it is hard to remember them all. For most of us, they seem so far and alien from our daily life. It is so easy to listen to the news without realizing that after every bomb, after every shell there are people struggling to survive. Ninety percent of the victims of the wars of our time are civilians, people equal to us, with the same needs, the same hopes and the same desire for their beloved ones: living safely, staying together, and being protected.
According to recent estimates, “eight individuals own as much as the poorest 3.6 billion people. Meanwhile, every day 1 in 9 people go to bed hungry.” Are we still surprised that people increasingly embark on perilous journeys and strive to find a better future? Last year over 60 million people were forced to leave their homes, looking for protection and safety. They had the dream of living in peace, but we are deaf to their hopes. “What did I do wrong?” a Somali guy landing in Sicily asked me. I could not give him an answer.
Even though migrants arriving in Europe represent a small portion of the migrant population scattered across the globe, the so-called “migration crisis” has shed light on the hypocrisy of the European approach to human rights. On the one hand, we firmly promote the principles of peace, democracy and fundamental rights, while, on the other, we are building a fortress made of walls and cultural barriers, denying access and basic help to thousands of people fleeing war and poverty.
The case of Afghanistan serves an emblematic example. In the last 15 years, Afghanistan has been devastated by a new war. Every year in our hospitals around the country we register a new record of war wounded, one third of them are children. Afghanistan has been the source country of the second-highest number of refugees worldwide (only recently surpassed by Syria), with almost 3 million Afghans living mainly in Pakistan and Iran. This tragedy has been ignored for many years by the Western countries and has become a priority only when Afghan refugees have turned to Europe as their final destination. In response to this increasing flow, rather than investing in welcoming and integration programs and addressing the root causes of the conflict, European leaders have signed an agreement with the Afghan government to legally deport asylum seekers back to Afghanistan in exchange for financial aid.
The broken lives of all of them urge us to reflect, ask us to take action to get out of the spiral of war and violence. If we wish to work for the survival of humankind, the abolition of war is necessary and inevitable. It falls within the mandate of the UN, founded over 70 years ago, but still today very little has been done to fulfill their core mandate.
EMERGENCY has come to believe that the abolition of war is the only realistic and humane solution to end human suffering and promote universal human rights. With this objective in mind, EMERGENCY is working to launch an international campaign involving world-renowned personalities as well as ordinary citizens. It might sound utopian, but in fact it is a realistic and achievable objective. It is up to the world citizens to take action and conquer peace. Renouncing the logic of war and practicing fraternity and solidarity is not only desirable but urgently needed if we want the human experiment to continue. Today I am very happy to have the chance to warmly invite all of you to join us in this effort.
Thank you.
Now more than ever, there is a compelling need for building a better world for future generations and sustainable peace. I have personally seen the atrocities of war and its devastating impact. I have spent the last thirty years of my life in war-torn countries, operating on patients in Rwanda, Peru, Ethiopia, Somalia, Cambodia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Sudan. In these and other countries, EMERGENCY – the humanitarian organization I founded 23 years ago - is committed to providing free and high-quality medical and surgical care to the victims of war, whose effects are not limited to the wounded and refugees, but have severe repercussions on the future of entire generations.
Many of the conflicts that are currently ravaging countries reducing populations to misery and hunger are often undeclared or deliberately silenced. The massacres are increasing, to the point that it is hard to remember them all. For most of us, they seem so far and alien from our daily life. It is so easy to listen to the news without realizing that after every bomb, after every shell there are people struggling to survive. Ninety percent of the victims of the wars of our time are civilians, people equal to us, with the same needs, the same hopes and the same desire for their beloved ones: living safely, staying together, and being protected.
According to recent estimates, “eight individuals own as much as the poorest 3.6 billion people. Meanwhile, every day 1 in 9 people go to bed hungry.” Are we still surprised that people increasingly embark on perilous journeys and strive to find a better future? Last year over 60 million people were forced to leave their homes, looking for protection and safety. They had the dream of living in peace, but we are deaf to their hopes. “What did I do wrong?” a Somali guy landing in Sicily asked me. I could not give him an answer.
Even though migrants arriving in Europe represent a small portion of the migrant population scattered across the globe, the so-called “migration crisis” has shed light on the hypocrisy of the European approach to human rights. On the one hand, we firmly promote the principles of peace, democracy and fundamental rights, while, on the other, we are building a fortress made of walls and cultural barriers, denying access and basic help to thousands of people fleeing war and poverty.
The case of Afghanistan serves an emblematic example. In the last 15 years, Afghanistan has been devastated by a new war. Every year in our hospitals around the country we register a new record of war wounded, one third of them are children. Afghanistan has been the source country of the second-highest number of refugees worldwide (only recently surpassed by Syria), with almost 3 million Afghans living mainly in Pakistan and Iran. This tragedy has been ignored for many years by the Western countries and has become a priority only when Afghan refugees have turned to Europe as their final destination. In response to this increasing flow, rather than investing in welcoming and integration programs and addressing the root causes of the conflict, European leaders have signed an agreement with the Afghan government to legally deport asylum seekers back to Afghanistan in exchange for financial aid.
The broken lives of all of them urge us to reflect, ask us to take action to get out of the spiral of war and violence. If we wish to work for the survival of humankind, the abolition of war is necessary and inevitable. It falls within the mandate of the UN, founded over 70 years ago, but still today very little has been done to fulfill their core mandate.
EMERGENCY has come to believe that the abolition of war is the only realistic and humane solution to end human suffering and promote universal human rights. With this objective in mind, EMERGENCY is working to launch an international campaign involving world-renowned personalities as well as ordinary citizens. It might sound utopian, but in fact it is a realistic and achievable objective. It is up to the world citizens to take action and conquer peace. Renouncing the logic of war and practicing fraternity and solidarity is not only desirable but urgently needed if we want the human experiment to continue. Today I am very happy to have the chance to warmly invite all of you to join us in this effort.
Thank you.
“I am honoured to receive the Sunhak Peace Prize. It encourages EMERGENCY and me to multiple efforts to pursue our mission of promoting peace and human rights worldwide.
In 1994, I founded EMERGENCY with the aim of guaranteeing high standard, free-of-charge care to the victims of war and poverty.
For 22 years, EMERGENCY has been treating over 8 million people in 17 countries, in the firm belief that the right to be cured is a fundamental human right.
We work tirelessly in Afghanistan, where the number of war-wounded keeps increasing after 15 years of war.
In Iraq, we contribute to the reception of tens of thousands of refugees and internally displaced people. We provide medical care to entire families that have lost everything fleeing the war.
In Italy, we treat hundreds of migrants that every week risk their lives in the Mediterranean Sea, looking for a better future away from home.
Confronted daily with the suffering of war-victims, we have come to realize that war is the worst disease affecting humanity.
In 1932, at a press conference gathering journalists from all over the world in Geneva, Albert Einstein stated “War cannot be humanized. It can only be abolished.” Some years later, in their 1955 Manifesto, Einstein and Bertrand Russell wrote: “Here, then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war?”
There is no alternative, especially today, when technologies with a mass destruction capacity million times higher than the bomb of Hiroshima are available. Humanity must renounce war.
It may seem utopian, but, before the XIX century, even the abolition of slavery seemed utopian.
As long as war remains a possible option to deal with severe crises, it is likely that someone will eventually resort to it. The abolition of war is the only guarantee for the future of humanity and our planet.
Nov 29, 2016
Dr. Gino Strada
Dr. Gino Strada
| Written and edited by the Sunhak Peace Prize Foundation | |
| Format | Shin Kook Pan, 338 pp |
|---|---|
| Issue | January 25, 2018 |
| Category | Political and Social ISBN : 979-11-88794-04-1(03300) |
| Price | 15,000 won |
Contents
- -English ver
- -Korean ver
- Preface.
- Chapter 1. Battlefield Surgeon
- - The Holocaust isn’t over
- - Determined to become a surgeon at the battlefield
- - Scourge of the Green Parrots
- - The reality of refugee camps
- - What defines a war surgeon?
- - Triage
- Chapter 2. EMERGENCY on the Most Tragic Frontline
- - Founding EMERGENCY
- - The three principles of EMERGENCY
- - On the frontline of the world’s tragedies
- - The best center for cardiac surgery in Africa
- - Building special medical facilities across Africa
- - EMERGENCY to save children’s lives
- - Beyond surgery: the path to rehabilitation and self-reliance
- - Restoring people’s lives
- - The ultimate goal: the day when the world does not need EMERGENCY
- Chapter 3. Changing Perspectives Is the Beginning of Peace
- - Treatment without discrimination
- - Medicine is not a business
- - Opposing the production of anti-personnel mines
- - Wishing for a world without war
- - Humanitarian of the 21st century
- Chapter 4. The Sunhak Peace Prize for Future Generations
- - The Sunhak Peace Prize award ceremony
- - Major achievements
- - Acceptance speech
- - World Summit speech
- Biography
Introduction
In commemoration of Sunhak Peace Prize laureate Dr. Gino Strada,
who spearheads emergency relief activities in conflict areas around the world
who spearheads emergency relief activities in conflict areas around the world
Dr. Gino Strada is an Italian surgeon who, for 28 years, has been providing humanitarian relief to the victims of war and poverty, and refugees around the world. In 1994, he founded the international medical relief organization called EMERGENCY, which now operates more than 60 medical facilities in 17 countries, and has saved more than 8 million lives.
The Sunhak Peace Prize Committee awards those who have peacefully led humanity towards a common destiny, and selected Italian surgeon Dr. Gino Strada and Afghan educator Dr. Sakena Yacoobi as co-recipients of the 2017 Sunhak Peace Prize Award, for their work to solve the refugee crisis.
Dr. Gino Strada sees the right to be cured as a basic and inalienable human right, and is raising the bar, striving to provide high-quality medical treatment free-of-charge to people in need. He has been highly regarded for his campaigns to abolish war, and has been awarded the 2017 Sunhak Peace Prize.
The Sunhak Peace Prize Committee awards those who have peacefully led humanity towards a common destiny, and selected Italian surgeon Dr. Gino Strada and Afghan educator Dr. Sakena Yacoobi as co-recipients of the 2017 Sunhak Peace Prize Award, for their work to solve the refugee crisis.
Dr. Gino Strada sees the right to be cured as a basic and inalienable human right, and is raising the bar, striving to provide high-quality medical treatment free-of-charge to people in need. He has been highly regarded for his campaigns to abolish war, and has been awarded the 2017 Sunhak Peace Prize.
Preview
Publisher's review
"We want a world based on justice and solidarity.
No more war, no more death, no more victims."
No more war, no more death, no more victims."
Commemorative book for the 2017 Sunhak Peace Prize laureate Dr. Gino Strada,
who revived a spark of life on the most horrific battlefields.
who revived a spark of life on the most horrific battlefields.
Even now, more than ten regions globally are ensnared in war and terrorist attacks. However, what's more gruesome than that is the fact that nine out of ten victims of armed conflicts are civilians; and among them, one-third are children.
Dr. Gino Strada grew up in the safe suburbs of Italy, but ended up working for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on the forefront of a battlefield, where he witnessed the urgent need for medical treatment for the victims of war, which compelled him to stay.
He and his wife established the emergency medical organization called EMERGENCY and have been providing medical relief at the forefront of conflicts in Africa and the Middle East. To date, EMERGENCY has been operating more than 60 hospitals, surgical centers, rehabilitation centers, first aid centers and cardiac surgery centers in 17 of the most dangerous and vulnerable countries in the world. In 2007, Dr. Strada established the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery, which has been providing free, high-quality cardiac surgery to countless individuals. He is also taking the lead to ensure that the 'right to be cured' becomes a basic human right for all. In particular, he is largely credited for spreading the notion that the right to healthcare should be guaranteed by the state for all its citizens.
Dr. Gino Strada, is well aware that the nature of war has changed so that it directly affects even women and children, and has witnessed the devastation of landmines in conflict zones for many years. In response to decades of suffering caused by those landmines, he began a campaign to protest war and the production of anti-personnel landmines.
Dr. Gino Strada, the hero of war victims and refugees, has been fighting for the 'right to be cured' for nearly 30 years in the cold operating room, where life and death intersect, hoping that one day war may vanish, like a passing breeze; and with it, refugees and war victims.
Dr. Gino Strada grew up in the safe suburbs of Italy, but ended up working for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on the forefront of a battlefield, where he witnessed the urgent need for medical treatment for the victims of war, which compelled him to stay.
He and his wife established the emergency medical organization called EMERGENCY and have been providing medical relief at the forefront of conflicts in Africa and the Middle East. To date, EMERGENCY has been operating more than 60 hospitals, surgical centers, rehabilitation centers, first aid centers and cardiac surgery centers in 17 of the most dangerous and vulnerable countries in the world. In 2007, Dr. Strada established the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery, which has been providing free, high-quality cardiac surgery to countless individuals. He is also taking the lead to ensure that the 'right to be cured' becomes a basic human right for all. In particular, he is largely credited for spreading the notion that the right to healthcare should be guaranteed by the state for all its citizens.
Dr. Gino Strada, is well aware that the nature of war has changed so that it directly affects even women and children, and has witnessed the devastation of landmines in conflict zones for many years. In response to decades of suffering caused by those landmines, he began a campaign to protest war and the production of anti-personnel landmines.
Dr. Gino Strada, the hero of war victims and refugees, has been fighting for the 'right to be cured' for nearly 30 years in the cold operating room, where life and death intersect, hoping that one day war may vanish, like a passing breeze; and with it, refugees and war victims.
