Global health interdependence and the international physicians' movement

Abstract

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War has had an impressive public impact in the 1980s, helping to shatter the myths of surviving and medically responding to a nuclear attack. The 1990s present a new challenge for the medical community in a different social and international context characterized by increasing global interdependence. Another view of physician activism is presented to complement advocacy for nuclear disarmament in the promotion of peace. A framework for analysis is provided by "fateful visions"--accepted policy views of prospective superpower relations--drawn from practitioners of foreign policy, international relations, and security affairs. A perceptual gap may exist between physicians who wish to address underlying ethical and public health concerns on security issues and policy practitioners who are accustomed to discussion within existing policy frames of reference that can be pragmatically used. A strategy is proposed for physicians to use their specialized training and skills to evaluate trends in global health interdependence. The international physicians' movement may contribute substantively to the formulation of policy by expanding and interpreting an increasingly complex database on interdependence, and by creating a dialogue with policy formulators based on mutual recognition of the value and legitimacy of each professions' expertise and complementary contributions to international security policy.

KIE: The organization International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) was instrumental in the 1980s in alerting the public and policy makers to the realities of surviving and medically responding to nuclear war. Gellert looks to the future role the international physicians' movement may play in formulating health policy in an era of globalization and interdependence. He proposes a strategy with which physicians may use their training and skills to evaluate global health interdependence brought about by trends in economics, environmental deterioration, and demography and population, as well as in medicine and public health.