Emma Williams

Damage limitation

Emily Mayhew and Lynne Jones examine close up the physical and psychological scars of war

issue 24 June 2017

One of the most pitiful sights in conflict areas is the local prosthetics store, with its rows of artificial limbs, sized from adult down to tiny child. A poignant reminder that, whether fleeing a war or injured in one, the human body and mind are subjected to extreme damage.

Imagine triggering an improvised explosive device (IED) that shreds your leg and sends shrapnel, soil and debris deep into your body. Would you be able to apply a tourniquet to your injured leg, to prevent bleeding out from severed arteries? Soldiers are trained to do this. Some wear tourniquets in position, ready to wind tight should the worst happen.

Your village is shelled and every member of your family killed. You escape the bombs and run for months across the Middle East, see others drown in the Mediterranean, then walk overland to arrive in a temporary camp with inhuman conditions. Alone among thousands, you find neither sympathy nor asylum.

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