SA – I am no advocate of unnecessary foreign military intervention, crippling sanctions or regime change, but our rapacious greed and negligence are so often the seeds of deprivation that germinate to become a catalyst for internal strife and conflict. Sanctions that fail to penalize or restrict warped governance merely punish the most oppressed citizenry of the world, but we need to go a lot further than criticizing our government for taking sides and supporting dictators to join the fray in proxy wars. The ongoing morally bankrupt scavenging of vital medical personnel, that I witnessed the ramification of firsthand on my tour of sub-Saharan African, has decimated global health infrastructure. This has critically weakened the ability of many Developing World countries to combat the severe threat posed by this or any other Pandemic.
The tiny island nation of Cuba has performed an exceptional service to humanity by alleviating this gross imbalance through their successful program of Medical Diplomacy, training thousands of foreign Doctors in Havana at the world’s largest Medical school and sending their own Doctors all over the world to support the most beleaguered Healthcare services overseas. Sadly, western Industrialized nations are only prompted to make a similar positive humanitarian intervention when the situation in the global south poses a direct threat to their own security and wellbeing as it did with Ebola and as it does right now in this crisis. It shouldn’t take the threat posed by sustained infection just one long-haul flight from our major cities to force us to offer something other than bombs and guns.
This Pandemic presents an opportunity for positive supportive intervention that is not only necessary for our own control of a recurring spread of this highly contagious disease, but is desperately needed to prevent massive loss of life. We are in a stronger position now to pressure our Government to end the obscenity of supplying Saudi Arabia with the arsenal to bomb Yemen into oblivion. When I sailed into the port of Hudaydah in the 70s the Peace Corps described Yemen as one of the three most impoverished countries on earth; such extremes lead to conflict as the populace have so little to lose in a civil uprising. Extreme poverty and oppression drive ordinary citizens to choose violent rebellion as the risk posed by armed troupes is outweighed by the harsh reality of perpetual exploitation and starvation.
In Aceh the presence of foreign humanitarian volunteers on the ground exposed the exploitation and deprivation that was fuelling the armed conflict. Neutrality protects Medics serving in a combat zone since as we are committed to treating all of the injured with equal priority and respect for saving lives. Despite the natural wealth of oil reserves discovered off the coast under Indonesian Government control, basic services like Healthcare were minimal in Aceh so our initial focus on emergency trauma surgery soon turned to long neglected procedures. Within a year of the tsunami the Indonesian Government was forced to end the oppression and negotiate with the rebels for peace; this was a worthwhile outcome following a devastating disaster. It is often possible that an extreme catastrophe can force a positive change of direction and I can only hope for such an outcome following this crisis. I hope you can agree with me that this is a worthwhile goal.