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medpundit |
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Friday, November 08, 2002-Address poverty, social injustice and health disparities that may contribute to the development of terrorism. (#1 on the list) Grade: D -Provide humanitarian assistance to, and protect the human rights of, the civilian populations of all nations that are directly or indirectly affected by terrorism. (#2 on the list) Grade: C -Advocate the speedy end of the armed conflict in Afghanistan and promote non-violent means of conflict resolution. (#3 on the list) Grade: B+ -Prevent hate crimes, ethnic, racial and religious discrimination, including profiling; promote cultural competence, diversity training, and dialogue among peoples; and protect human rights and civil liberties. (#10 on their list) Grade: F These are political objectives, pure and simple. They aren’t the province of physicians and nurses and social workers. The “report card” goes on, predictably, to criticize the Bush Administration’s policies at every turn. Meanwhile, aspects of bioterror preparedness that are legitimate concerns of the public health sector, such as beefing up infrastructure, educating healthcare providers, coordinating efforts between public health officials and other responders, and providing adequate medication for bioterror victims are lower on their list. They also receive better grades (C’s and B’s) and much less criticism. But then, those are the areas that are the responsibility of public health officials. Evidently, introspection isn’t their strong point. This isn’t as surprising as it may seem. The public health community is led chiefly by academics, and they, like other academics in other fields, are typically of a leftist bent. Witness this letter to The Lancet (May require registration, but it’s free, and it's the second letter down) signed by public health officials from American universities that puts the blame for Middle East violence solely on Israel. Of course, they have a right to their opinions, but when those opinions distort their world-view to the point that political objectives trump public health objectives, as it appears to in the report card, it destroys both their credibility and their effectiveness. And it means that they can’t be trusted with the charge of something as important as bioterror preparedness. UPDATE: This email makes a good point: I wouldn''t worry overmuch about that group. From their own letter: "Sir--More than 50 public-health and medical workers in the USA and other countries have signed a statement1 that expresses our concern about the flagrant violations of medical neutrality accompanying Israel's military invasion of the occupied territories of the West Bank." Fifty people world-wide? And they think that's persuasive? There are other groups (e.g. Reuters) I worry about more. posted by Sydney on 11/08/2002 06:06:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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