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One Bullet Stories
-The Human Face of Small
Arms Violence-
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Small Arms – A man-made
disease!
Firearms-related violence
is not considered as a
public health issue in the same way HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis,
malnutrition, among others are.
In Africa,
this scourge is discussed as a security and criminal justice issue. But
Small
arms are also a public health threat. The medical community needs to
become
involved to help stop the injuries and deaths.
Society cannot afford the
costs of gun violence:
- Physical costs of the
victims
Loss of sight, disability, hospitalization,
confinement to wheel-chairs
- Social costs of the victims
Dependence on aid, decrease in quality of life, loss of parents and
friends
- Psychological costs for the victim
Traumatization, fear,
identity
crisis
- Economic costs for the
health system
Hospitalization, operations
and life-support treatment
- Economic costs for the community
Security guards need to be hired,
walls and fences build and police costs go up
- Loss of economic growth
A culture of violence scares
off investors and maims local businesses
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Just to give some numbers...
- 639
million small arms and
light weapons are in circulation worldwide
- 2-300,000 deaths per year
as a result of small arms
- Of 49
major conflicts in
the 1990s, 47 were waged with small arms as the weapons of choice
- Annual global
trade in small arms and light weapons
is estimated at $4 billion dollars
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Solutions to this epidemic include Public
Health:
- Collecting data
- Identifying Risk Factors
- Designing interventions
- Preventing injuries
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What can the medical community do?
-Educate colleagues about
the public health dimensions of gun violence
-Talk
about the urgent need to stop gun violence
-Collect injury and mortality
data to use for advocacy and policy change
-Join the
call for an ars trade treaty, limiting the amount of arms
-Help
design violence
prevention strategies
-Support
stricter gun laws
-Work
in care and rehabilitation
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Smalls Arms are an Epidemic
We Can Contain!!
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Health
professionals are in the front line as the primary witnesses of the
horrific
impact of firearm violence in our society. With the One Bullet Stories,
we delve deep into the
epidemic of gun violence and expose the qualitative aspects that are
impossible to
express statistically.
Parameters used in clinical analysis such as the
Injury
Severity Score (ISS) and the Cost of Illness (COL) method are important
in
comparative analysis. However, these require the backing of victim
testimony
and pictures to influence public opinion and attitude of policy makers.
The Ottawa
Process that led to the Mine Ban Treaty achieved its high level of
success
largely through the exposure of the plight of mine victims. It was the
exposure to gruesome photos of innocent and
unsuspecting civilians, injured by the Antipersonnel Mines (APMs) that
created
the public outcry and attracted high profile personalities like
Princess Diana to the campaign.
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The
initiators of
this outcry were the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
and field
surgeons such as Robin Coupland, MD. They brought the focus of the
international
community to the indiscriminate and horrific nature of landmine
injuries.
This is the role Health Professionals are ethically and morally bound
to play and the success of the Anti-Landmines Campaign should serve as
an example for all of us health professionals all over the world,
working to fight the epidemic of small arms violence.
For this reason, IPPNW's Small Arms Campaign "Aiming for Prevention"
has instituted the One Bullet Story Project.
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