Sweat Equity


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 voluntary, mandatory and other considerations to military and general health. Populations for armed services vary by country. 

Acknowledging alliances in military campaigns, military research and veteran health issues, can support culture without intrusion. 


⦾ Programmatic logistics

  • A global program to acknowledge military and veteran health will take navigation of geopolitics. 
  • A global program requires funding. 
  • A global program would require a role of assistant, not decision-maker. 
  • A global program would require alternative goals: not leadership for countries; rather, coordination of useful data, tools, research, interventions. 

Start with a commitment of funding and labor. Distance with data and medical research connection is no longer an issue. 


⦾ Foundation

  • Foundations to voluntary inclusion in armed forces health require respect for individual national security, and require respectful liaison work.
  • Foundations could start with combat/conflict related definitions and tools. Most major conflicts have been responded to with international assistance. 
    • How does healthcare research and diagnostics define combat, chronic multisymptom illness, post traumatic stress disorder, Gulf War Illness, post deployment syndrome, substance abuse, toxic exposure and other terms variably used. 
    • What tools do military health and veteran researchers use for assessments to cognition, mental health, deployment experience, and environmental exposures? Major research has been conducted with international academia. Alignment is a achievable. 

Begin the commitment with funding for military occupational health. Even if the funding comes from a $4 million organizational allocation, with matched $8 million non-taxable philanthropic contribution. 

 

Advancing health equity for volunteer and mandatory armed forces personnel supports our entire population health. It is a matter of sweat equity for health equity. 

Medicine has a responsibility to advance health quality of life and health equity for military personnel, beyond the plain view of conflict right and wrong. The world is best served when we secure the best health outcomes for armed forces. We can, should and will wrap our healthcare cape around those who entered the theatre as inspired heroes. 

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