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HarperNorth has signed an “unflinchingly honest” account of the impossible ethical choices required by medical emergencies by Professor Dr Tony Redmond.
Jonathan de Peyer, senior commissioning editor, acquired world all language rights directly from the author to Frontline: How to Save Lives in War, Disaster and Disease, which will be published in September 2021.
Redmond has been deployed for over 30 years to wars, refugee crises, air crashes, earthquakes, typhoons, volcanoes and disease outbreaks. He is emeritus professor of international emergency medicine at the University of Manchester, founder of the non-governmental organisation UK-Med and a former president of the World Association for Disaster & Emergency Medicine.
The publisher explained: “The reader follows Redmond from humble beginnings as the youngest son of Irish Catholic parents in Manchester and through a long career in frontline medicine. The author writes of his experience of the immediate aftermath of the Lockerbie bombing, treating earthquake victims on the Iran-Iraq border, dodging mortars and shells in Sarajevo, spearheading Britain’s response to the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone and latterly establishing Manchester’s Nightingale hospital.”
De Peyer said: “Tony’s story is absolutely extraordinary. He has displayed incredible fortitude, empathy and bravery throughout his career and his care for his patients shines through. I count myself very lucky never to have suffered heavy metal poisoning, survived malaria or broken my back at work, as Tony has. And his experiences have affected him not just physically but mentally. One of the strengths of this narrative is its candour.”
Redmond said of his reason for writing the book: “When a colleague was killed taking my place on a humanitarian mission, the public failure to acknowledge his ultimate sacrifice made me painfully aware of the need to explain why anyone would take such risks and lift the veil on the complex motives behind frontline humanitarian work. I’ll show how good intentions are not enough; why any help is not always better than no help; how disasters are rarely 'natural'; and why in spite of all the threats to my life and damage to my health, I still firmly believe it’s worth it.”