Susannah Sirkin

Frustrated and scared, health care workers have taken risks to speak out about the dangerous lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other safety provisions to care for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many are being silenced, threatened, suspended, or dismissed from their jobs instead of being commended for their commitment to safety as they risk their lives to carry out their professional duties.

One day about 10 years ago, I received a call from the humanitarian affairs office of the UN in New York. A doctor from the Democratic Republic of the Congo was visiting, and our UN colleagues thought Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) might be interested in meeting with him. I was told the doctor was a surgeon specialized in treating women and girls who were being raped in massive numbers during the brutal wars in eastern Congo. Today, that doctor is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.

Susannah Sirkin is director of international policy and partnerships at Physicians for Human Rights . You can follow her on Twitter @p4hr . The views expressed in this commentary are hers. (CNN) Walking along the red dirt path of the village of Kavumu, sheltered among the hills near Lake Kivu in the eastern Congo, it is hard for me to imagine the horror of its recent history.