April 17, 2003
April 23 program focuses on consequences of war
In conjunction with the UW’s Day of Reflection on Wednesday, April 23, the health sciences school are sponsoring a symposium on “Health Consequences of War” with three speakers knowledgable about the various impacts of wars and regional conflicts on human health.
The symposium will be presented at 2:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 23, in Hogness Auditorium at the Health Sciences Center, primarily for faculty, staff and students, and then repeated at 7:30 p.m. in room 120 of Kane Hall, primarily for a public audience. Anyone is welcome to attend either session and both are free.
Three core presentations are scheduled, beginning with Dr. Barry Levy, past president of the American Public Health Association and co-editor of Public Health and War, speaking on the public health consequences of war. He will analyze health impacts of past conflicts and relevance of these findings to the currrent war in Iraq.
Dr. Charles Clements, author of Witness to War and past president of Physicians for Human Rights, was part of a research tean that investigated the vulnerabilites of the Iraqi public health infrastructure in January of this year. He will also talk about the impact of a decade of U.N. sanctions in Iraq.
Dr. Evan Kanter, a practicing psychiatrist who specializes in post-traumatic stress disorder, has had direct experience with health care in Iraq and will talk about mental health impacts of war. Kanter is a UW acting assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences practicing at the VA medical center.
Some of the consequences to be addressed include damage to health-related infrastructure such as water supplies and sanitation, and medical distribution systems, as well as direct casualties.
For more on the program, see the Web site at http://sphcm.washington.edu/healthandwar
