KARACHI: Armed conflicts are becoming increasingly complex and protracted and threaten to block access to essential health services, affecting at least 630 million women and children, or about eight percent of the world’s population, according to a new series of four papers published by The Lancet on Sunday .
The series, led by academic researchers and partners affiliated with the BRANCH (Bridging Research & Action in Conflict Settings for the Health of Women & Children) Consortium, analyzes existing evidence with new modeling and insights from a range of local research partners, humanitarian agencies and civil society organizations .
The authors of the series highlighted the global community’s failure to prioritize the health of women and children in conflict areas, and called for an international commitment of humanitarian actors and donors to address political and security challenges, along with consensus on a framework for identification. high-priority interventions to reach the most vulnerable women and children with the best care possible.
“The new estimates provide compelling evidence of the enormous indirect toll of modern warfare caused by infectious diseases, malnutrition, sexual violence and poor mental health, as well as the destruction of basic services such as water and medical facilities,” said prof. Zulfiqar Bhutta of the Center for Global Child Health, The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada and the Institute for Global Health & Development, The Aga Khan University, who led the series.
According to a series of articles published by The Lancet, about a third of those affected live in Pakistan, Nigeria and India
“Today, more than half of the women and children in the world live in countries that are experiencing active conflict. The international community cannot continue to ignore their fate. It is time for a radical rethink of the global response that poses challenges to insecurity, access, politics, coordination and the logistics of setting high priorities for women and children in politically unstable and unsafe conditions, ”he added.
The articles in the series examine the changing nature of war and conflict, the short- and long-term health consequences for women and children, strategies to identify the best responses, and interventions supported by rural assessments and studies.
Indirect consequences of war
New estimates suggest that the number of women and children affected by armed conflict around the world has been steadily increasing since 2000 due to population growth, more conflict, increasing use of conventional and chemical weapons in urban areas and increasing numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons. .
In 2017, one in 10 (10 percent) women and nearly one in six (16 percent) children worldwide were forcibly displaced by conflict or dangerously close (within 50 km) to conflict zones. About a third of those affected lived in Pakistan, Nigeria and India.
Evidence suggests that the risk of dying from non-violent causes increases significantly in the vicinity of more intense and chronic conflicts, while women of childbearing age in Africa live near the high intensity that is three times more likely to die than women in peaceful areas, and the risk of death among infants by more than 25 pieces higher.
Between 6.7 and 7.5 million babies and more than ten million children under the age of five, born within 50 km of armed conflict, are estimated to have died from the indirect effects of fighting in Africa, Asia and the Americas between 1995 and 2015.
“It is clear that the indirect effects of armed conflict on women and children are far greater than the effects of actual fighting,” said co-author Dr. Halla Gattas of the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.
Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2021