Healthcare a right, not a luxury

Name a conflict zone or state of emergency around the world and, chances are, Vanessa Cramond will have been there.

For the past 10 years, her job as a nurse with Medecins Sans Frontieres has taken her to places like Syria, South Sudan, Papua New Guinea, Iraq and Turkey.

Cramond has made it her mission to help provide essential healthcare to people who need it most.

‘‘I don’t think healthcare is a luxury or a privilege, it’s a right,’’ Cramond says.

Medecins Sans Frontieres is an international medical and humanitarian organisation which delivers emergency aid to people affected by conflict, disasters, and epidemics.

Cramond, who is back home in Beach Haven for a few months while she completes her master’s degree, started as a nurse in the infectious diseases ward at Auckland City Hospital.

She then moved abroad to work for Medecins Sans Frontieres in 2006 and has been based in the Netherlands since 2013, working as an emergency manager for the organisation.

‘‘This is not just a job, it’s part of who I am. I have got just as much out of it as I have put in.

‘‘I’ve been to quite a few places where there have been scary moments. I don’t know what it is that gets everybody through that.’’

Water sanitation, sexual violence, HIV/AIDS and the plight of refugees are just some issues she is passionate about.

‘‘Unwillingness to help refugees and migrants is one of the biggest threats to humanity we will face in our lifetimes.

‘‘People are seeking better lives because their homes are jeopardised, this is something that is the most basic human desire - to give your children a better chance at something.’’

Cramond says she could talk all day about human rights atrocities and neglected communities in Syria, a country she has visited many times.

The increasing tightness in border control between the Kurds and Turkey has become a huge challenge in getting medical aid in and out of Syria, she says.

‘‘They may not be the front line but it’s starting to become that in different ways with the lack of assistance and food and healthcare services.

‘‘The situation is we’re somehow sitting watching, on the sidelines, the crisis of our generation.’’

South Sudan will always have a special place in Vanessa Cramond’s heart.