Richard H. Carmona, who commissioned the "Call to Action on Global Health" while serving as surgeon general from 2002 to 2006...told lawmakers that, as he fought to release the document, he was "called in and again admonished ... via a senior official who said, 'You don't get it.' " He said a senior official told him that "this will be a political document, or it will not be released."
In 65 pages, the report charts trends in infectious and chronic disease; reviews efforts to curb AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria; calls for the careful monitoring of public health to safeguard against bioterrorism; and explains the importance of proper nutrition, childhood immunizations and clean air and water, among other topics. Its underlying message is that disease and suffering do not respect political boundaries in an era of globalization and mass population movements.
A few of the issues it focuses on, such as AIDS treatment and research, have been public health priorities for the Bush administration. But others - including ratifying the international tobacco treaty and making global health an element of U.S. foreign policy - are more politically sensitive. The report calls on the administration to consider spending more money on global health improvement, for instance. And it warns that "the environmental conditions that poison our water and contaminate our air are not contained within national boundaries... . The use of pesticides is also of concern to health officials, scientists and government leaders around the world."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072907Y.shtml
Posted by Stubbornson at July 29, 2007 08:01 PM