PHA-Exchange> Military versus health expenditures

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MILITARY BUDGETS VERSUS DECREASE IN HEALTH BUDGETS IN 3RD WORLD COUNTRIES

21ST JULY 2002
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True facts of events happening in African continent clearly show that
expenditure on military and Health in 3rd World are inversely proportional
in favor of military expenditure, which has put Africa to its knees.

All sorts of problems are found in Africa, - wars & conflicts, which kill,
maim & displace people, cause endemic poverty, hunger destruction of
infrastructure & public amenities etc. Wars, conflicts & civil wars -
supported by the developed world at the expense of development & health.
Conflicts are fueled by developed world to sell their weapons especially
Africa.

1. Example: - Rwanda genocide 1994 was well known by the West even UN and
they did nothing to stop it. One million lives were lost and now it is
forgotten. This conflict has taken Rwanda 10 years backwards and created a
permanent wound of hatred that will not heal easily.
2. Angola civil war has raged from 1975 - 2002 i.e. 27 years and killed 2
million Angolans. People were drying in large numbers using arms supplied b
the developed worlds to the late Savimbi. Savimbi was surving, his masters
who were not willing to give him money for health facilities, food or
development for his people. This civil war brought Angola to its knees
totally that it was to depend on foreign aid up to now. Angola is one
country endowed with a lot of resources like oil, minerals and rivers for
power generation but nobody is willing to help them develop. Angolans are
dying from hunger yet the country is very rich agriculturally.
3. Mozambique also suffered a prolonged guerilla war supported by the west,
which supplied arms to the warring factions. This fighting claimed so many
lives in Mozambique and development wise. Mozambique is 10 years backward
compared to what it could have been had is not suffered civil war. This
conflict claimed 1.5 million lives, created massive poverty, which has made
the country dependent on donor funding. Such conflicts also create lots of
refugees and human displacements in these regions. Such conflicts leave
disasters like land mines, which take decades to remove.
4. Liberia fought a civil war for nine years, which claimed lots of lives
and destroyed development and health infrastructure, which have never been
replaced. Liberia is a country starting life a new yet it got independence
in 1847.
5. Sierra Leone has had the most devastating and agonizing conflict I have
witnessed in the 20th century. The atrocities being carried out by armed
rebels in Sierra Leone are the most horrible ones. Rebels invade innocent
people and catch them by force most of them women and children. They rape
the women, force children to join their rebel factions. Those who refuse are
forcefully amputated in broad daylight. These rebels enjoy this horrible
amputation act. They ask you if you want long sleeves short sleeves or
sleeveless. A man then literally chops off your hand or leg. and you are
left bleeding. Why is it that there is money to provide arms for such rebels
yet no money for health facilities & development? Sierra Leone is full of
amputees and children soldiers with no development nor health facility.
6. Sudan has had a long fierce civil war, which has raged for 19 years and
has claimed 2 million lives. At times you may think that some lives are not
important. Probably that is why arms are massively supplied to sustain the
fighting endlessly. Southern Sudan looks like a place without any human
beings living there. The pictures we see on television occasionally show
people living like wild animals. It is difficult to imagine if these people
are human beings like others considering their health and general social
life. Despite all these sub-human living conditions in southern Sudan UN has
turned a deaf ear with its powerful organs like WHO, WTO etc. concentrating
their efforts elsewhere.
7. Somalia's government collapsed in 1989 when Siad Barre was overthrown and
up to now internal fighting is still raging claiming many lives daily.
Somalis have fled their country to Canada, US, Kenya, Ethiopia etc nobody
knows when it will have an organized government to organize its health &
social infrastructure. Arms are still being supplied to fighting factions
but No Food Nor Medicine.
8. Democrating republic of Congo (Zaire) has had a long civil war since 1996
which has killed 2.2. People. Arms are being supplied but no health
facilities to support the citizens! Nobody knows when this civil war will
end either. While this fighting and loss of life is going on schools health
facilities and other infrastructure are completely destroyed. It is nobody's
business to mind of DRC problems. Ask many people in the west of DRC
problems will tell you they have not heard of such a country in this world,
but ask them about Kosovo, Kuwait, Timor or Afghanistan and they will tell
you everything about them. Why? Because those are countries which matter to
the developed world and determine the worlds resources and determine
destiny.
9. up to now civil war still claiming lives in Burundi & Rwanda but very
little is done or said about it.
AFRICA
Africa is the most disadvantaged continent in this world we live in. The
conflicts I have mentioned have moved the continent backwards in health &
development several years.
The results of these conflicts have been horrible to the mother continent.
1. 80 % of world refugees are Africans. In the refugee camps living
conditions are sub-human. There are no adequate health facilities to cope
with such refugee influxes. Children and women die of preventable or curable
diseases like diarrhea, measles, TB, malaria etc. in war situations like we
have in Africa even running schools is a problem. So the bigger population
of Africa is becoming illiterate. In those countries where armed conflicts
have been on for long, no children's have been to school. Some children are
left to fend for their brothers and sisters after their parents are killed.
2. These wars have brought a lot of shortcomings to Africa, like massive
poverty, maiming of citizens, hunger, psychological and mental diseases and
worthlessness. Africans have been reduced to sub-human beings - always
looking inferior or considering themselves second class compared to people
from other parts of the world.
3. HEALTH: Health care, which is a right and a basic necessity in the
developed world, is far above the reach of an ordinary African! In Africa
there is no Government Hospital, clinics or Dispensary adequately stocked
with the most basic requirements for an outpatient. While we have no basic
medicines like panadols, etc. the west can afford the money to support armed
conflicts in Africa. A lot of money is going into waste to develop
unnecessary things like nuclear weapons, space exploration etc. which could
do a lot to improve health in Africa. Expenditure from the west to Africa on
arms versus health is at a ratio of 8 to 2, which is very biased.
4. Africa  has the largest number of conflicts in the whole world, but yet
they are the least covered by the western media when you watch CNN, BBC, SKY
or the Deutche welle TV news, you only see the good news of the west and
Middle East and Afghanistan. Africa is never in the focus. This media black
out  is very much working against Africa in terms of development and support
in health amenities. Very few people in the west know of the armed conflicts
I have mentioned above and their atrocities. So the western media should
change their attitude and start reporting the truth on these African
conflicts
5. HIV/AIDS PANDEMIC
Apart from the mentioned armed conflicts HIV/AIDS is more rampant in
sub-Saharan Africa than any other part of the world. Out of 34 million HIVt
people in the world, 75 % are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Everybody in the west
is aware of this fact that by 2010 if the rate does not drop, African
population will start decreasing. However, the response from the concerned
organizations and the west is not commensurate to the HIV spreading rate.
The symposium needs to take this issue seriously and give it the right
consideration. Grassroots NGOS campaigning on HIV/AIDS awareness lack even
the most basic facilities like PC computers, videos, video machines, public
address systems, transport means to reach the rural grassroots' poor
communities which need the information most.

Anti retroviral drugs available in the western world are still not available
for the common man in Africa. If they are available then those who need them
most cannot afford.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is creating more complicated problems, which may be
difficult to handle, if not checked now. It is adding more orphans to the
streets and affecting Africans economy by killing the able bodied people.

This symposium should consider items mentioned in this article as a matter
of urgency for survival of Africa.
By;
Malachi Opule Orondo,
Peoples Health Movement,
Kenya National coordinator,
Email: oromal at yahoo.com
.