Health in South Asia
http://www.100md.com
《英国医生杂志》
EDITOR—Highlighting the poor health of people in the developing world is one of the roles of a general medical journal.1 While reading Editor's choice for the Health in South Asia issue,2 I had to remind myself that I was reading about South Asia, not West Africa. Be it communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases, maternal and infant mortality, the catastrophe of HIV and AIDS, or the paltry allocation to the health sector by governments, the picture is similar—as the BMJ will expose when it visits Africa.
Similarly, the effects of rapid urbanisation to the detriment of rural development, where most Africans live, can be seen in the rise of fatal road traffic crashes, congestion and overcrowding, stress, depression, and anxiety. Factors such as the prevailing illiteracy, which feeds ignorance, poverty, superstition, voodoo, and black magic, compound the awful statistics of morbidity and mortality across all ages and both sexes in Africa.
In most African countries hard data will be difficult to collect but the lamentable state of health in the continent is there for all who live there (or visit) to see. One further similarity is that South Asia and Africa are emerging from centuries of colonisation and plunder by their colonising masters. Some will say it is harsh to judge their poor performance or make comparisons with the colonising countries, only 50 years after independence, while the colonisers have enjoyed centuries of uninterrupted development and growth. I can't wait for the BMJ to throw its searchlight on health in Africa, to reveal all.
Joseph Ana, managing editor
BMJ West Africa edition, UK Office, Luton LU2 7AE info@bmjwa.com
Competing interests: JA is managing editor of BMJ West Africa edition and trustee-director of the Nigerian Medical Forum, a UK registered charity, both of which have keen interest in seeing to improvements in healthcare planning and delivery in West Africa since 1991. Neither position attracts a salary, but his travel expenses are often partly refunded.
References
Ana J. The role of a general medical journal. BMJ 2004;328: 591. (6 March).
Smith R. Editor's choice. Towards a global social contract. BMJ 2004;328: 0. (3 April.)
Similarly, the effects of rapid urbanisation to the detriment of rural development, where most Africans live, can be seen in the rise of fatal road traffic crashes, congestion and overcrowding, stress, depression, and anxiety. Factors such as the prevailing illiteracy, which feeds ignorance, poverty, superstition, voodoo, and black magic, compound the awful statistics of morbidity and mortality across all ages and both sexes in Africa.
In most African countries hard data will be difficult to collect but the lamentable state of health in the continent is there for all who live there (or visit) to see. One further similarity is that South Asia and Africa are emerging from centuries of colonisation and plunder by their colonising masters. Some will say it is harsh to judge their poor performance or make comparisons with the colonising countries, only 50 years after independence, while the colonisers have enjoyed centuries of uninterrupted development and growth. I can't wait for the BMJ to throw its searchlight on health in Africa, to reveal all.
Joseph Ana, managing editor
BMJ West Africa edition, UK Office, Luton LU2 7AE info@bmjwa.com
Competing interests: JA is managing editor of BMJ West Africa edition and trustee-director of the Nigerian Medical Forum, a UK registered charity, both of which have keen interest in seeing to improvements in healthcare planning and delivery in West Africa since 1991. Neither position attracts a salary, but his travel expenses are often partly refunded.
References
Ana J. The role of a general medical journal. BMJ 2004;328: 591. (6 March).
Smith R. Editor's choice. Towards a global social contract. BMJ 2004;328: 0. (3 April.)