Weapons in any context bad for people's health, MDs told

In early May, as a million soldiers massed in another tense standoff on the India–Pakistan border, 100 doctors from around the globe assembled in Montreal to examine the role public health can play in preventing war-related injuries.

Figure. Living amidst escalating violence Photo by: Canapress

The 2-day meeting, organized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and the World Health Organization, preceded the World Conference on Injury Prevention.

The discussions, which covered everything from access to small arms to sexual violence, seemed to come at an opportune time. Not only had violent incidents against civilians escalated dramatically in conflict areas like Sierra Leone and Israel, but death and injury rates due to gunfire were also common in industrialized, high-income countries that are supposedly at peace.

This means that Canadian physicians can ill afford to ignore the message that weapons in any context are bad for people's health, doctors were told. Wendy Cukier, a professor of justice studies at Toronto's Ryerson University, said Canada ranked fifth in terms of firearm-related deaths among children in a survey involving 26 industrialized countries. Guns are readily available in about 20% of Canadian households, and about 1000 Canadians are killed with firearms every year. Cukier said the number of children under age 15 killed by guns in Alberta each year is as high as the figure for Israel and Northern Ireland combined. “Mortality rates in places that are supposedly at peace are as high as in countries at war,” Cukier told CMAJ. — Susan Pinker, Montreal

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