Palacký University Olomouc, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the Czech Red Cross have the pleasure to invite you to an expert meeting on “Health Care in Danger – a Central and Eastern European perspective”, which will be held on 11 & 12 May 2017, in Olomouc, Czech Republic, in the framework of the annual conference “Olomouc Days of Emergency Medicine”.

The Health Care in Danger (HCiD) project, which is an initiative of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, aims at addressing the issue of violence against patients, health-care workers, facilities and vehicles, and ensuring safe access to and delivery of health care in armed conflict and other emergencies.

In this context, the aim of the meeting is to bring together a wide variety of experts from several countries, which will include representatives of civilian and military national authorities, academics, health professionals, NGOs and National Red Cross Societies from Central and Eastern Europe in order to explore ways to better address the specific challenges faced by each national context. To that effect, participants will be invited to base their reflexion on the practical recommendations highlighted by the HCiD initiative and the Resolution on Health Care in Danger and its respective corresponding pledges, as was adopted at the 32^nd International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, in December 2015.

I strongly believe that this expert meeting will contribute to tackle important questions appearing in Central European countries, in particular in the context of migration. Preparedness of national systems to emergency situations, ethical principles of health care, protection of wounded people and health care personnel represent key topics which will be of interest for several participating countries. Sharing the knowledge from a wide range of experts will certainly lead to highly relevant outcomes.

On behalf of Palacký University,
Prof. Jaroslav Miller
Rector