Doctors must not ignore the causes of violence

“Violence leads to death and disability no matter who is the perpetrator. The consequences of violence are therefore the proper concern of doctors.” In a commentary in this week’s issue of The Lancet, the editor, Dr Richard Horton, reminds doctors that they should not avoid becoming involved in the circumstances that lead to violence.

Doctors may see themselves as being healers, and so set apart from social and political concerns that lead to violence. Such an attitude is inappropriate, Dr Horton writes. The |World Health Organization has recognised the importance of violence as a public health issue by creating a Department of Injury and Violence Prevention in March, 2000. This Department is due to publish a report in the middle of next year, giving violence statistics country-by-country.

Dr Horton comments that, “No western country can now afford to turn away from state failures and their consequences. Poverty, famine, disease, corruption -- and violence. These aspects of violence research and violence-prevention strategies have largely been ignored by the public health community.” And ends with the assertion that, “The history of human development indicates that politics is, after all, only health writ large.”

Contact:Dr Richard Horton, E) [email protected]