PHM-Exch> Nepal: 2 years on: when democracy and tectonics collide

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Andreas Wulf <wulf at medico.de>


*2 years on: when democracy and tectonics collide*

·         9th Jun 2017

Duncan Maru and Shiva Raj Mishra

The earthquakes in Nepal killed nearly 9000 people, destroyed over 600 000
homes, displaced more than 1 million people, and destroyed over 1200 public
health-care facilities. Given the technological tools of the 21st century,
such destruction is almost entirely the result of poor planning and poor
enforcement of building code regulations. A product of economic exclusion
and poor governance as much as tectonic misfortune, Nepal’s unnatural
disaster has proved to be the greatest challenge the government has faced
since formally declaring itself the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal on
May 28, 2008.

Those of us involved in global population health should pay close attention
to Nepal’s fate. The central theme of this era of globalisation is the rise
of both income inequality and the politics of exclusion. The result is
often extremism and conflict that threatens the health and security of
entire populations. We ignore these dynamics at our peril as we go about
designing health systems, nutrition, or other population health
interventions whose fundamental opportunities and risks are determined by
the broader systems of power and politics.



See: http://globalhealth.thelancet.com/2017/06/09/2-years-when-
democracy-and-tectonics-collide
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