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Economic sanctions have exacerbated the brutality of this
Economic sanctions have exacerbated the brutality of this conflict many-fold, removing any prospects for peace and reconciliation. We need some reality to gauge their manifold effects before Syria descends into another Iraq, the devastating health consequences of which were well documented.
Syria urgently needs a political initiative for peace, before this military conflict generates a major humanitarian health catastrophe, worse than what we are now witnessing; then we cannot say we did not know. We only have to look at Iraq.
The high number of trained staff in countries with a disproportionately small burden of disease has exacerbated inequalities in global health and surgery. It is estimated that in low-income countries there is a shortage of about 2·5 million members of staff, including surgeons and midwives, to provide essential health interventions. Better financial and education opportunities have been cited as common incentives for workers to emigrate, with risk of conflict and disease threatening their safety and security in their own countries. By training providers who later migrate overseas, low-income countries are losing more than $500 million each year as they Senexin B effectively subsidise their wealthier counterparts.
Diaspora-led organisations (DLOs) can have an important role in addressing unmet surgical need in low-income and middle-income countries. These organisations have the unique advantage of being able to relate to the cultural sensitivities of local populations, which is particularly pertinent with multifaceted conditions such as obstetric fistula. In many ways, obstetric fistula represents a microcosm of the international community\'s failure to emphasise the need for cost-effective surgical interventions, and the inability to encourage community-level initiatives Plectonemic winding empower women. Although maternal mortality has almost halved over the past two decades, there exists a need to address underlying social causes such as early marriage, which substantially contribute to maternal morbidity. By facilitating clinical and reproductive sexual health programmes for women in rural Bangladesh, DLOs such as are well placed to achieve this.
International links between health facilities usually involve the transfer of skills or technology through South–North partnerships. For 30 years, the Hereford–Muheza Link Society has arranged unusually short visits of 4–6 weeks each way between staff of the County Hospital in Hereford, UK, and St Augustine\'s Hospital in Muheza District, Tanzania. The visits\' aims are to foster friendship, contacts, interest, curiosity, and some learning.