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Nuclear War in the Middle East: Where is the Voice of Medicine and Public Health?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2011

Cham E. Dallas  and
Frederick M. Burkle Jr.
Cham E. Dallas
Affiliation:
Director, Institute for Health Management and Mass Destruction Defense, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia USA
Frederick M. Burkle Jr.*
Affiliation:
Senior Public Policy Scholar, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington DC USA Senior Fellow and Scientist, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Harvard School of Public Health, Cambridge, Massachusetts USA
*
Correspondence: Frederick M. Burkle, Jr., MD, MPH, DTM Harvard Humanitarian Initiative14 Story Street, 2nd FloorCambridge, MA 02138 Tel: 808-262-2098 E-mail: fburkle@hsph.harvrd.edu
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Abstract

Once again, the politically volatile Middle East and accompanying rhetoric has escalated the risk of a major nuclear exchange. Diplomatic efforts have failed to make the medical consequences of such an exchange a leading element in negotiations. The medical and academic communities share this denial. Without exaggeration, the harsh reality of the enormous consequences of an imminently conceivable nuclear war between Iran and Israel will encompass an unprecedented millions of dead and an unavoidable decline in public health and environmental devastation that would impact major populations in the Middle East for decades to come. Nuclear deterrence and the uncomfortable but real medical and public health consequences must become an integral part of a broader global health diplomacy that emphasizes health security along with poverty reduction and good governance.

Keywords

global healthmedical diplomacynuclear deterrencenuclear warpublic health emergenciessocial justice
Type
Commentary
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 26 , Issue 5 , October 2011 , pp. 383 - 385
Copyright
Copyright Dallas © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2012

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