In the Crossfire Something we as humans all need is not the latest gadget or the hottest trend of the moment. It is something more fundamental than that; what we all need is access to health care. A strong health system is synonymous with a healthy living environment and a healthy population. In the United States, we may not have the best health care system, but it is accessible and ingrained in our culture. Many poverty-stricken and civil war-stricken parts of the world have little or no health care, but these are the areas that need health care the most. According to Paula Saravia's slides on the Journal of Culture and Medicine, “Poverty exerts its destructive influence at every stage of human life, from the moment of conception to the grave. It conspires with the deadliest and most painful diseases to give a miserable existence to all who suffer from them. » Health care is used to prevent the spread of infectious diseases due to poverty, to treat injuries resulting from conflict, and, most importantly, to maintain the overall health of a region. This is where emergency health care response programs and other types of foreign assistance come into play. These programs generally focus on emergency assistance and prevention to provide rapid relief to affected populations. However, healthcare workers who participate in these programs and enter these high-voltage areas are at great risk on the job. The safety of health workers in places of conflict and poverty such as Syria and South Sudan continues to be a serious problem in terms of cultural competence, structural violence, and access to and presence of health care. health. .... middle of paper .......Ryan, Curtis. “The New Arab Cold War and the Struggle for Syria.” MER 262 42 (2012): n. page. Middle East Research and Information Project. 2012. Internet. March 19, 2014.Salman, Salman MA. “The New State of South Sudan and the Hydropolitics of the Nile Basin.” Water International 36.2 (2011): n. page. Taylor and Francis online. Internet. March 10, 2014. Yacoub, Rabi, Radwan Al Ali, Ghamez Moukeh, Ayham Lahdo, Yaser Mouhammad and Mahmood Nasser. “Hepatitis B vaccination status and needlestick injuries among healthcare workers in Syria.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. US National Library of Medicine, June 30, 0005. Web. March 7, 2014. Note: Hello Paula, After submitting my essay to Turnitin.com, I realized that one of my quotes had been copied and pasted in an 11 pt font. I didn't realize it but I fixed it here. However, I have not resubmitted my essay.