The Broadcast Edge

Shaping global health collaboration that is responsive to military health should be approached sincerely and pragmatically. Health and medicine must be removed from geopolitics in favor of values.  ⦾   Valuing the individual     Active duty and veteran populations have unique health needs. Caring for these needs may or may not be conducted by specialized clinicians, and there is no formal global health guidance for military members affected by formal conflict.       * Global health experts must start to quantify and quality exposure. Great exposure work has been initiated, yet prevention and mitigation for new deployments is not coordinated. While exposure data pre-Gulf War was not as comprehensive, attention to exposure from Gulf War on has been formally analyzed. This is where global health exposure attention should cement foundation.      On behalf of global peacekeeping efforts decades ago, troops from many countries exper...

Investment in members of the armed forces should include assurance of equitable health outcomes. In order to achieve this broadly, a culture change in healthcare must be initiated and matched in global partnership.  An investment strategy could build from three initial considerations.  ⦾  Culture Military culture is one of confidential defense, and disclosure of population health to outside agencies may spur hesitancy. This is true worldwide. World Health culture, and other international health agencies, do not include military or veteran health populations. The topic of occupational health to soldiers is not even acknowledged. The consideration to combat troop health is second to geopolitics, despite responsibility to individual and population well-being.  Occupational medicine culture leaves military and veteran health to isolated government departments. In some countries, there is no occupational or armed services health.  Government culture disregards volunt...