by Andrew Kanter, MD, MPH, President, Physicians for
Social Responsibility, US; and Robert Mtonga, MD, Co-President, International
Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
Unregulated transfer of conventional weapons
undermines socioeconomic development, including global health. Each year,
hundreds of thousands are killed and millions more maimed from armed violence.
Annually, resources and funding that could be spent on public health, poverty
reduction, expansion of primary education, the promotion of and equality of
women, and environmental sustainability are diverted to manage the care of
armed violence victims.
Similarly, in Zambia, a study conducted in 2005
showed that, on average, the care of a single gunshot victim sustaining minor
injury cost US $3,000. During that time period, Zambia’s annual per capita
health expenditure was US $18. This is comparable to the health care costs of
over 160 Zambians to fund the cost of care for a single gunshot injury.
Another case study from Nepal found that it cost
approximately 3 ½ years of a father’s salary to provide treatment for his young
daughter who had been hit by a stray bullet in a firefight. This was equivalent
to the cost needed to fully equip an entire health center for her village.
The overwhelming burden to the health care system by
the medical costs of gunshot injuries is not limited to developing nations. A
study[ii]
conducted on hospital data from Maryland and New York showed that, in 1994, the
average cost of hospital care for a single gunshot injury was US $17,000.
Taxpayer money was used to pay nearly 50% of this cost. The authors further
estimated the lifelong cost of a single hospitalized gunshot injury at US
$35,367 or, overall, US $2.3 billion per year.
Why should we as health professionals have to choose
between providing care for a single gunshot victim instead of providing care
for an entire community? Given the scarcity of resources in much of the
developing world, and, in some locations, even in the developed world, this is
not an exaggerated dilemma.
Strengthening the necessary requirements of
sustainable development directly increase peace and security. As stated by the
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on 3 July 2012, upon the opening
of the ATT Diplomatic Conference, “the world is over-armed and peace is
under-funded.” Last year, US $1.7 trillion was spent worldwide on the military—equal
to US $249 per person. The US alone spent almost half of this total amount—US
$711 billion. In sub-Saharan Africa, the annual military spending was
approximately US $20 per person. In comparison, the annual health expenditure
is US $24 per person in sub-Saharan Africa.[iii]
Limiting access to firearms has been shown to
prevent injuries and reduce societal costs. In a later speech that same day to
the press, the UN Secretary-General remarked that the lack of international
standards in the trade of conventional weapons “has made it easier for [these
weapons] to fuel armed conflict and crime, to commit acts of terror, and to
perpetuate political repression and grave human rights violations.”
[ii]
Cook PJ, Lawrence BA, Ludwig J, Miller TR. The medical costs of gunshot
injuries in the United States. JAMA. 1999; 281(5):447-454.
[iii]
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. SIPRI Yearbook 2012:
Armaments, Disarmament and International Security. Solina, Sweden; 2012. (http://www.sipri.org/yearbook/2012).
