As India and Pakistan once again step closer to an open conflict, leading pediatricians and healthcare professionals from across the border have come together to urge both countries to take "brave first steps" towards peace.
In The BMJ today, Zulfiqar Bhutta at The Aga Khan University in Karachi, Sanjay Nagral at the Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre in Mumbai, and other leading doctors from India and Pakistan warn that the risk of a cataclysmic nuclear exchange - by accident or design - is real and threatens the world.
"What is needed now is for enlightened sections of society from both sides of the border to reach out and lobby for sobriety and refocus on issues that matter to improve the living conditions of our people," they write. "We understand that this is not easy and will not happen overnight. But there is no alternative in a region joined at the hip by common history, culture, and traditions."
They discuss the challenges the two countries face in public health, social determinants, climate change, environmental issues, and enormous equity gaps in health and development.
Yet they point out that India and Pakistan spend between 2.4% and 2.8% of their GDP on defence ($80 and $39 per capita respectively), amounts that neither can afford. In contrast, expenditures on health range from 3.3 to 2.9% of respective GDP and a fifth of the population in both countries live in poverty.
"As professionals involved with healthcare, it is our responsibility to highlight the dangers of prolonged conflict and its hindrance of efforts to improve the daily lives of our people," they write.
Using health diplomacy and other avenues for constructive engagement, they urge professional bodies, civic society representatives and academia in India and Pakistan to initiate this process and nudge towards a path of peace.
"Persistent tensions and insecurity only worsen the intergenerational cycle of poverty, illiteracy, poor living conditions, and human development," they warn. "As pediatricians and healthcare professionals, we raise our collective voices against conflict and its consequences. We owe this to our people and future generations."
