Pipol Power

The editorial of this week's The Lancet reads like an endorsement for John Kerry in the upcoming US presidential elections. "Anything but Bush" seems to be the prevailing opinion among anybody who doesn't want to be identified as a reactionary in Europe these days. I'm not convinced though. Still, the Lancet editorial makes some interesting points and criticizes the health profession's lack of advocacy against the continuing occupation:

The continuing silence of doctors and public-health advocates over the human burden being borne in Iraq is utterly astonishing. It is understandable that the major US media focus has been the passing of a gruesome milestone--1000 American servicemen and women killed in Iraq since the war started. But even with a huge ground force of American military, the situation in the region has only worsened. Doctors should be speaking out about this appalling human disaster. (...) As far as Iraqi civilian casualties are concerned, estimates vary. The figure is likely to be well over 10 000 killed and 40 000 injured. Five hundred days after Bush declared "mission accomplished", Iraq represents a public-health catastrophe.

Interestingly, the Lancet points to the connection with the precarious public health situation of the US population:

Domestically, the health of Americans rests on a background of increasing poverty. 1·3 million Americans moved into poverty by the end of 2003. The total number of people living in poverty swelled to 35·9 million--12·5% of the population. To add to this dismal picture, 1·4 million people joined the ranks of the uninsured, taking the number of those without health coverage to 45 million (15·6% of Americans). The proportion of US citizens now living in poverty is the highest since 1998. Children and African-Americans have been hardest hit by the nation's faltering economy, which continues to worsen.

That is exactly why the Health NOW! campaign calls for "healthcare, not warfare!" And, by the way, this campaign's Health and Occupation Watch also proves that The Lancet might be too pessimistic after all: Public health advocates actually do speak out against the occupation. The "Billionaires for Bush," on the other hand, seem to have another opinion...

Progressive Philippine congress man Satur Ocampo (Bayan Muna) made a privilege speech last September 7 to draw attention to the deterioration of the Philippine public health care system. The speech is based on a survey done by the health alliance, Kilosbayan Para sa Kalusugan, in 13 public hospitals from August 29 to September 2, 2004 showed that 89% of the patient respondents had to wait from three days to one month before they were admitted to the hospital. Most of the respondents, or at least 61%, said they had no money to pay for admission fee; another 17.3% said there were no beds available. Some even had to wait for one to two years to be admitted. Poor patients cannot get treatment even for emergency cases in public hospitals if they cannot shell out P500 to P2,000 for admission fee.

Meanwhile, the health budget has declined by about 40 percent in the past 8 years. In 1996, per capita spending on health amounted to P230, but the current spending is now only P114 – or 37 centavos a day. This amount is not even enough to buy a tablet of Biogesic, or its generic version, which costs P1.

Kevin Williams, who lives in Baghdad, muses on the 3th anniversary of the September 11 events: "The total number of deceased on the day of the attacks on New York, Washington and Pensylvania fell just short of 3000. In Iraq today the figure for the dead is not counted - but is widely believed to be in the tens of thousands. Now over 1000 US troops have also been killed. The resistance to the "Occupation" is increasing. The question must be asked over and over - When will it stop?" He recounts his experience on September 11, 2oo4: gun battles and bomb explosions, no water, no electricity. A 'normal' day in Baghdad.