An article in the Wiley-Blackwell journal – Nursing and Health Sciences – finds that short-term health care concerns are overshadowed by long term goals. Access to healthcare seems shelved in favor of development plans, sacrificing millions of lives in the process.
Author of “Special report: Silent disasters”, Ms. Anneli Eriksson argues that despite the importance of sustainable development, many children are without essential healthcare and die in the silent disasters of hunger and poverty.
“In Niger, calamity comes not in war or natural disasters, but in daily reality that doesn’t make the headlines. The countless deaths of children in Niger every year should qualify as a disaster situation”, says Ms. Eriksson.
Being one of the world’s poorest countries, Niger’s child mortality rate is among the highest in the world. 40% of children under the age of five suffer from chronic malnutrition, and many die of easily treated conditions such as diarrhea and measles.
The government and international partners including governments in the European Union and some United Nations agencies maintain that relief assistance in the form of emergency food aid or free health care could risk disturbing the market and contradict long-term development goals.
“Arguments of sustainability cannot be used for imposing limits on investment in short-term health care. There are areas where almost half of the population lack access to essential health care”, says Dr. Eriksson.
She adds. “With cost as a major obstacle to health care, long-term and short-term interventions must be combined if we are serious about saving lives.”
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This paper is published in the November 2007 issue of Nursing and Health Sciences. The journal is one of the 16 Wiley-Blackwell journals participating in the Council of Science Editor’s (CSE) Global Theme Issue dedicated to poverty and human development.
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About the Council of Science Editors (CSE)
CSE is a professional society of science editors that serves members in the scientific publishing and information science communities by fostering networking, education, discussion, and exchange and to be an authoritative resource on current and emerging issues in the communication of scientific information. The CSE Web site that has the list of all participating journals, the direct URL is http://www.councilscienceeditors.org/
About the Author
Anneli Eriksson is the president of the Swedish board of the medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). She is also the vice president of the International Council of MSF. She started humanitarian work on a surgical project in Chechnya in 1995, and has since also worked in Burundi and Sierra Leone. In 2005, she was part of the emergency team that was sent to Niger to respond to the nutritional crisis. In 2007 Ms. Eriksson received the Florence Nightingale International Achievement Award, by the Florence Nightingale International Foundation.
About Nursing & Health Sciences
Nursing & Health Sciences focuses on the international exchange of knowledge in nursing and health sciences, particularly between East and West. The journal publishes peer-reviewed papers on original research, education and policy as well as more informal papers describing personal experiences. By encouraging Eastern and Western scholars alike to share their clinical knowledge and experience, the Journal aims to provide the reader with a deeper understanding of the lived experience of health care around the world and the opportunity to enrich their own practices for improved global health.
About Wiley-Blackwell
Wiley-Blackwell was formed in February 2007 as a result of the merger between Blackwell Publishing Ltd. and Wiley’s Scientific, Technical, and Medical business. Together, the companies have created a global publishing business with deep strength in every major academic and professional field. Wiley-Blackwell publishes approximately 1,250 scholarly peer-reviewed journals and an extensive collection of books with global appeal. For more information on Wiley-Blackwell, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com or http://interscience.wiley.com.
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