The Impact of War

 

Based on the readings, describe how war impacts: public health, social and psychological well-being of the society, the environment and food security, and the economy and infrastructure. Offer specific examples to demonstrate these impacts from the readings (including examples from Peru, Iraq, and the Marshall Islands).

As a result of the armed conflict that exist in our world today, the public health, social and psychological well-being of the society, the environment and food security, and the economy infrastructure has been on a steady decline. We see these deteriorating conditions not only is our present war with the middle east but also looking back into our history and history of other countries.

While reading "Health, Human Rights, and War: Structural Violence, Armed Conflict and Human Health in the Andes" written by Tom Leatherman several war impacts are noticeable in regards to the public health, social and psychological well being of the society, and the enviroment and food security of the indigenous communities in Peru. The impact of war on the public health of the civilians is severely affected due to the conflic that arises from the relationship between the "structural violence and political violence" (Leatherman 333) observed in the 20 year civil war, initiated by the PCP-SL, Communits Party of Peru Sendero Luminoso in 1980. The Communist Party of Peru Sendero Luminoso was initiated to wage war against the Peruvian State who controlled and restricted the use of land by indigenous communities. Restricting indigenous communites from owning any land and only allowing large estate cooperatives to own and work the land( Leatherman 338). The affect of this civila war agains the Peruvian state affected the public health of the poor indigenous communities more than the wealthy communites. The Structural violence is used as a tool to increase the structuraly inequalities that exist in the indigenous communites that accentuate their situation of poverty and hunger. Hunger is a leading factor in the conflict of war within a country. The restriction of food security and access to resources leaves the people with nothing to lose and therefore willing to fight for the resources they are lacking(Leatherman 335). The public health is also affected by high mortality rates in countries suffering from war conflicts. According to Leatherman most of the people included in the mortality rates are civilians of which women, children, and the elderly are the most affected; and most of those deaths occurred outside the battlefields of war. The long term effects of the social and psychological effects of war on the Peruvian indigenous communites is widely known to have caused mental traumas s post traumatic stress disorders. This was caused by the fear and insecurities that Senderos Luminoso Communits Party intilled in the indigenous people by publicaly torturing and murdering people opposing his rule(Leatherman 339). In an effort to prevent history from repeating itself and attempting to right the wrong commited on innocent civilians Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was organized to provide for medical attention to those suffering from the trauma of the civil war. Thought to be a very ambitious plan because the funding for such a program in were about 30,000 people were effected by mental trauma and only three groups of a total of 200 people with one alternating physician( Leatherman 344). The government never really allocating funds for their long term effects of war, when all the funding goes to fund the military.

In the reading "Snapshot: Considering the Human Health Consequences of War in Iraq" written by Marcia C. Inhorn the war impacts are noticeable in regards to the public health, social and psychological well being of the society, and the enviroment and food security of the indigenous communities in Iraq. In the war with Iraq we can see the public health decline dramatically because of how violent the country has become due to the war. As well as before the war when Saddam Hussein became president in 1979 and initiated a bloody war that lasted for eight years(Inhorne 351). The dangerous aspect of this area and its war impeaded the access to the medical attention to the Iraqis. Since the war imposed by the US the mental health of Iraqis has increased by 35% with cases of Post Traumatic Stress Disoder (Inhorn 352). This is including civilians as well as Iraqi soldiers and excluding the US cases of US soldiers who have also suffered from PTSD as a result of this ongoing war. According to a Veterans Administration Study nearly 30,000 Afghanistan veterans suffered from PTSD in 2006 increasing to nearly 50,000 veterans in one year(Inhorn 352). Those numbers are suprisingly high for a one year period to increase by 20,000 veterans suffering from PTSD. Withing this casualties lies the 13 million children who have also suffered from PTSD from witnessing the war crimes that are commited in front and in their homes. And when malnutrition was once rear, it is now an overflowing problem in Iraq. According to Inhorn, "The UN agency estimates that one our of every eight children in Iraq dies before the age of five, one-third are malnutrition, one quarter are born underweight, and one-quarter do not have access to safe drinking water." The health of the Iraqis was also put at risk along side with its enviroment with the use of "contaminant depleted uranium, which is 60% more radioactive than uranium itself" (Inhorn).

We can observe this in our own history, in the event where the U.S. launched Nuclear Bombs in the Marshall Islands for testing between 1946 and 1958. Out of the many islands affected by radiation only four atolls were considered to be exposed for treatment and evacuation(Barker 359). In this situation not only was the health of the Marshalles people endangered but also their land and food security was gone. The Marshalles people were treated as test subjects for radiation effects on the human body. The radiation contamination caused long term publich health, social and psychological well being of the society, the enviroment and food security. The health of the public was affected by the malformantions of the people who where exposed to the radiation as well as the deaths that occurred through out all the islands who were exposed unofficially as well as officially. How is it that only certain islands were "exposed" when the radiation is spread through the air and carried out to different island of the Marshall Island? This clearly demostrates the importance and well being the war and homeland security of the US places on the lives of residents of the Marshall Islands. The long term effects of radiation are carried through the enviromental resources that have been contaminated by the radiation but were still consumed by the Marshalles people because the U.S. said they were "safe" to eat. For example, The Marshalles people consume Coconut crab and Rongelap, which was determined to be the most dangerous food source, but at times it was restricted from consumption and others it was "safe" to eat(Barker 362). These restrictions on food were also affecting the social and psychological well being of the society because at times were radiations was consumed through the food source it also generated birth deformaties on new borns. This resulted in higher mortality rate for the islands as well as social awareness of those that hve body deformations, some visible and those that are not are hidden. Women specilly have to hide their deformities so it wont limit their chances of marriage.