Why isn't war properly framed and funded as a public health problem?

摘要

Why is one of the largest public health problems in the world systematically ignored, underfunded, unrecognized and ill-considered? Why is war not a prominent subject in public health? There is simply no money or glamour in it, few opportunities to advance one's career in it, and little imagination of how this could change. By comparison, the field of public health offers substantial rewards for studying health problems caused by a range of other factors, from microbes to individual behaviour. In this commentary, I review the obstacles academics and practitioners in public health face when attempting to advance the study and prevention of war as a public health issue, and call on those working in public health to take up some of the opportunities we could exploit to change the current situation.