Fully Ready to Kill, Shockingly Unprepared to Save Lives

Credit: Albert Gonzalez Farran / UNAMIDBy Baher KamalMADRID, Jan 14 2022 (IPS) While absolutely ready to kill, with the biggest military powers spending in 2020 nearly two trillion US dollars on weapons, the world is shockingly unprepared to save the lives of millions of unarmed, innocent civilian victims of wars… and other man-made catastrophes. The military spending data come from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which also reports that global nuclear arsenals grow as states continue to modernise, thus sharply increasing the dangers of an unimaginable number of victims of the most devastating death machinery. "As fighting continues to displace tens of thousands while disrupting access to nutritious food for millions of people, over half the population – 16.2 million people – are facing acute hunger, with 5.1 million people at risk of famine. Half of all children under 5 – 2.3 million – are at risk of malnutrition this year." Parallelly, the world’s politicians continue to subsidise fossil fuel with six trillion dollars in just one year, being fully aware that such fuels harvest the lives of millions of humans, while devoting a tiny portion of such huge amounts to public health care systems. In fact, 27 December 2021 marked the International Day of Epidemic Preparedness. According to the United Nations, “global health crises threaten to overwhelm already overstretched health systems, disrupt global supply chains and cause dispropo...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Development & Aid Economy & Trade Global Global Governance Headlines Health Peace Poverty & SDGs TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news