Caught in the Crossfire: Safeguarding Children in Times of War
Description
Over 500 million children globally live in conflict zones, representing over 1 in 5 children worldwide. These young people face grave violations, including physical violence, forced displacement, hunger, loss of education and recruitment as child soldiers, leaving deep physical and mental scars.
Safeguarding children in conflict zones requires sustained, concerted and collaborative efforts to safeguard children and address the consequences of living in conflict zones.
This webinar will feature leading paediatric and child health professionals discussing how to safeguard children in conflict zones.
Lineup
Dr Daniel Martinez-Garcia
Humanitarian Paediatrics: Understanding the Humanitarian Space - Dr Daniel Martinez-Garcia, MSF Geneva Daniel Martinez Garcia, MD, MPH, paediatrician, PHDc Daniel Martinez Garcia is a Mexican paediatrician working on children affected by war and displacement for the past 20 years in around 25 countries mostly with Doctors Without Borders (MSF). He currently leads TACTIC, a large international project aiming to increase diagnosis, prevention and treatment of paediatric TB in humanitarian settings. He holds a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins and is completing a PhD in Global Health at the University of Geneva. He sits on the World Health Organization's STAGE advisory group for maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, the International Paediatric Association's group on Children in Humanitarian Disasters. He is the founder of the MSF Paediatric Days, EveryWhereSchools (EWS), an NGO working on Education in Emergencies, and the Global Society for Humanitarian Paediatrics (GSHP), a network trying to professionalize this new field of medicine.
Dr Nikola Morton
Humanitarian Paediatrics on the Ground: Needs, Contexts and Clinical Realities - Dr Nikola Morton, MSF ---- Dr Nikola Morton is an Australian Paediatrician with extensive experience both in the Australian health system and across humanitarian settings globally. She completed her paediatric specialisation in Australia before joining MSF in 2014 working on assignment in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Kenya. In 2017 Nikola joined MSF Operational Centre Paris as the paediatric advisor for over seven years, providing clinical technical support both remotely and in projects for paediatric and newborn care across Yemen, Afghanistan, Palestine, Pakistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Liberia, South Sudan, Syria and Bangladesh, as well as for emergencies. Nikola continues to work clinically at The Sydney Children’s Hospital Network as the clinical lead of the Paediatric Refugee service at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead. Nikola was appointed to the Board of the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network in January 2022 and oversees the Safety & Quality portfolio. In 2024 Nikola joined the Clinical Excellence Commission, a pillar of the NSW Ministry of Health, as the Medical Lead for the Paediatric Patient Safety Program. Nikola was elected to the MSF Australia Board in May 2025, and elected president in May 2026.
Prof Hasantha Gunasekera
Dr Hasantha Gunasekera is the Professor of Paediatric Priority Populations, Uni Sydney and a paediatrician at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead. He has worked for two decades in the HARK refugee clinic and in Aboriginal Health. He is on the Board of ACAH (setting up the Refugee Child Health Network) & the Riverina Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation.
Dr Georgia Paxton
A/Prof Georgia Paxton OAM holds clinical, academic and research appointments in child refugee health and advisory roles with the Department of Home Affairs, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, and the WHO Technical Advisory Group on Health, Migration and Displacement.
Prof Karen Zwi
Professor Karen Zwi is a Consultant Community Paediatrician at Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick, Conjoint Professor at UNSW Sydney, and the Clinical Services Director for Child Youth and Family in Northern Sydney Local Health District (NSLHD). She is a practicing Community Paediatrician with clinical expertise in treating children from priority populations such as asylum seekers, refugee children, children in Out of Home Care and Aboriginal children. She believes in developing services that are strengths based, promote equity and resilience, and are effective in improving child health outcomes and the patient and family experience.
Prof Shanti Raman, Chair of Panel
Panel: Beyond the Bedside: Opportunities, Limits and Advocacy in Humanitarian Paediatrics - Moderator: Prof Shanti Raman. Panellists: Prof Karen Zwi, Prof Hasantha Gunasekera, Prof Georgia Paxton Shanti Raman is a Consultant Paediatrician, with training in epidemiology and public health. She is the Director of Community Paediatrics - South Western Sydney. In her Ministry of Health role, she supports the quality, safety, and integration of child and family health services through the development of statewide healthcare policy. Her research and teaching interests include health of migrants and refugees, indigenous child health, child rights and child maltreatment, quality and safety in health, global maternal, newborn and child health. She is involved with policy development at State, national and international levels promoting a rights-based perspective to child health and child rights. She is the Editor-in-Chief of BMJ Paediatrics Open; over the past two years the journal has pioneered several specialised collections that explore critical issues impacting child and youth health globally. On the community engagement front, Dr Raman has been involved with a range of civil society organisations, responding to social justice, gender issues, human rights and support to refugee and migrant groups.
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