By Dr Cesar Chelala A year after Israel’s attack on Gaza, children there are still trying to recover from the consequences of the brutal assault. The Israeli attack, which started on 8 July 2014, resulted in between 2,142 and 2,310 Gazan deaths. According to the Gaza Health Ministry and to the UN and various human rights groups, …
By Dr Cesar Chelala The disastrous consequences of the recent aggressions against Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and Ukraine, to name just a few, show the urgent need to revive the principle of non-intervention into another state. This principle of international law includes, but is not limited to, the prohibition of the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or …
By Dr Cesar Chelala In 1960, the then Federal Republic of Germany paid Greece DM115m on account of compensation for Nazi crimes. Greek governments stated that this was only a fraction of what is due on account of loss of life, damaged infrastructure, and the repayment of a forced loan the Nazis extracted on Greece in 1942. Recent statements by leading …
By Dr Cesar Chelala In his book Century of the Wind, the late Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano tells how in 1927 the US Marines landed in Nicaragua to quell a revolutionary revolt by Augusto César Sandino, who led a ragtag army of Nicaraguan peasants to fight the invasion. Armed primarily with machetes and 19th century rifles, Sandino’s army fought …
By Dr Cesar Chelala As the Ebola outbreak continues claiming victims – albeit at a reduced rate – it is time to reflect on what we have learned so far in dealing with this serious infection. Although its impact is mainly in a relatively reduced geographical area, the fact that a few cases happened in …
By Dr Cesar Chelala In the charged atmosphere between the US and DN, the benefits of the deal with Iran have been obscured by a war rhetoric that does very little for peace and development in that conflictive region. To the calls for bombing Iran from the likes of Netanyahu and US Senator McCain, a significant number of experts in …
By Dr Cesar Chelala In Bundelkhand, one of the poorest areas of the Uttar Pradesh region in Northern India, a 48-year-old woman is breaking stereotypes, and giving woman a chance to fight for their rights, and even for their survival. This is no small feat in a country plagued by discrimination against women and by inequality. …
By Dr Cesar Chelala After four years of hostilities, the Syrian war doesn’t show any signs of abating, and the needs for all kind of assistance grow more urgent every day. The situation is even more complex as medical and paramedical personnel have become targets of repression by the government. As a result, thousands of …
By Dr Cesar Chelala In the 26th year of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) Somalia recently became the 195th state party to ratify the convention. As South Sudan is expected to ratify the Convention later his year, the US would be the only country in the world that hasn’t yet ratified the CRC. The Convention is an …
By Dr Cesar Chelala Every year, a group of 17 diseases makes life “miserable” for more than 1 billion people, reports the World Health Organization (WHO.) The group of diseases is called Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), and it includes tropical infections that affect predominantly low-income populations in developing regions in Africa, Asia and the Americas. The …
By Dr Cesar Chelala I have just returned from a concert by Gabriel Meyer Halevy, an Argentine-Israeli musician. He is the son of Marshall Meyer, an American rabbi who lived in Argentina during that country’s “Dirty War” in which thousands of people became “desaparecidos.” Marshall Meyer’s work helped save the lives of dozens of people who were …
By Dr Cesar Chelala Despite modest growth and poverty reduction, some important gains in the health status of the population have been achieved in the Middle East, thanks to improvements in technology, health service delivery and public health programmes. However, the whole region still faces important public health challenges. For example, although the region has decreasing …
By Dr Cesar Chelala As the world is reacting with justified condemnation to the tragic events in Paris, the same condemnation should be extended to industrialised countries that have resorted to violence and torture in their recent history. In addition, those countries not only have used these techniques themselves but have exported them to other countries. …
By Dr Cesar Chelala One of my most persistent memories of my friend Albert Sabin, who developed an oral vaccine against poliomyelitis (polio), was how, when we met after one of my health-related missions overseas, he would question me about the polio situation in the country I visited. I am sure he would be dismayed …
By Dr Cesar Chelala One of the most notable changes in modern times is the rapid urbanisation of our planet, which began in the 19th century. While in 1950, 29% of the global population lived in cities, that figure is estimated now at 50%, and by 2030 it will reach 61%. In Africa, urbanisation experienced a …
By Dr Cesar Chelala With Lionel Messi’s last performances there should now be no doubt: he belongs in football’s Holy Trinity with Pelé and Maradona. Although there have been many outstanding players, those three are the most enduring stars in the world’s most popular sport. The three of them have been considered by different observers …
By Dr Cesar Chelala When almost everybody thought that Lionel Messi’s best times were in the past, the Argentine player became the top scorer both in the Spanish and in the Champions League – an extraordinary achievement – proving again his exceptional qualities. There is, however, another side to Messi that is as remarkable and …
By Dr Cesar Chelala A new report from the Bread for the World Institute entitled “When Women Flourish…We Can End Hunger” states that women and girls are disproportionately affected by hunger and poverty because of discrimination practices against them. The report calls on the US government to prioritise gender analysis in all US global health and development programmes to …
By Dr César Chelala Female circumcision, also called female genital mutilation (FGM) is widely practiced in 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East. More than 125 million women have been subjected to different forms of genital mutilation across Africa and in areas of western and southern Asia, and 2 million women undergo the procedure annually. …
By Dr Cesar Chelala One can fight oppression with violence or with education. Hema Konsotia, a 34-year-old Indian woman, has chosen the latter. She is helping to change a situation affecting an estimated 165 million Indian Dalits. Also known as the “untouchables”, Dalits are a mixed population of numerous caste groups found all over South Asia. …
By Dr Cesar Chelala 106 former high-ranking Israeli members of the armed forces, police, and intelligence have called on Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make a strong move for peace with the Palestinians. In a letter to the prime minister, the army and police officers said that Netanyahu should seriously pursue peace with the Palestinians …
By Dr Cesar Chelala Despite enormous technological advances, humanity continues to grapple with three enormous burdens: poverty, disease and terrorism (both individual and state-sponsored.) Although the policies aimed at solving those problems are different, there is one approach that can help lower the negative effect of all three: education. There is a clear connection between …
By Dr Cesar Chelala Physical or sexual violence is a serious public health problem that affects more than one-third of all women globally, as was established in a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) in partnership with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the South African Medical Research Council. The findings of the report …
By Dr César Chelala On 9 April 1948, 120 fighters from the Irgun and Lehi Zionist paramilitary groups attacked Deir Yassin, near Jerusalem, a Palestinian-Arab village of approximately 600 people. During the assault, around 107 villagers were killed, including women and children. In addition, several villagers were taken prisoner, and were later jeered, spat at, and …
By Dr Cesar Chelala As the Ebola epidemic is claiming increasing number of victims, there is widespread concern that efforts to contain it are inadequate. New and more effective measures are needed to combat one of the most dangerous epidemics of modern times. “Six months into the worst Ebola epidemic in history, the world is …
By Dr Cesar Chelala On a rainy morning in April 1958, in Washington DC, Ezra Pound – then a 72-year-old man – was declared “incurably insane” by Judge Bolitha J. Laws, who set him free. As he prepared to leave for Italy, Pound declared: “Any man who could live in America is insane.” I wonder what Pound – …
Dr Cesar Chelala Growing up in Tucuman, a town in the North of Argentina, I had the opportunity to see a small example of peaceful coexistence and collaboration between Arabs and Jews. I was reminded of that experience after reading an article by Uri Avnery, one of the leading peace activists in Israel. Tucuman, a medium-size city …
By Dr César Chelala I first learned of Dr Albert Schweitzer’s work when I was a medical student in the 1960s. During those years, the story of Schweitzer’s efforts to improve the health of Africans in his hospital in Lambaréné ignited my companions’ and my imagination. It was thus with a sense of privilege that …
By Dr Cesar Chelala The new Israeli attacks against Gaza, which have already resulted in more than 100 deaths, will prove, once again, to be counterproductive. Violence against Palestinians will not diminish their rightful demands for freedom from occupation and for a normal, peaceful life. Why, then, if Gazans want to live in peace do they continue …
By Dr. César Chelala Rape as a weapon of war continues to take a heavy toll on women’s lives in today’s conflicts around the world. A high proportion of the women who are victims of rape end up infected with sexually transmitted diseases and infections, including HIV. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is …
