Journal of Humanitarian Medicine - vol. IV - n. 3 - July/September 2004

BOOK REVIEWS

Published by the World health organization

Genomics and World Health
Report of the Advisory Committee on Health Research

World Health Organization
2002, 258 pages English
ISBN 92 4 154554 2
Sw. fr. 35 / US $ 31.50
In developing countries: Sw. fr. 14

In our issue of January-March 2004 we published Anthony Piel’s enlightening article on “The role of science to improve the quality of life - Reflexions on the post-genomic era”.
The present book from WHO represents the genomics basis of the health sciences and the rapidly growing vistas it opens.
The report comes on the heels of a major scientific break-through - the sequencing of the human genome. This remarkable achievement will undoubtedly trigger off further discoveries in the hottest field of science to date. Given the remarkable speed of progress in genomics research, the coming decades are likely to see an enormous expansion of this field, with tremendous potential to benefit health care globally. Genomics will change for good health care as we know it. Specific molecular targets for therapy will be found for treating communicable and genetic diseases as well as for chronic ones including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, asthma, the major psychoses, and many others.
But not everything is rosy in the genomics garden. The report warns of a number of technological risks and ethical, social, and economic implications of genomics. There are all-too-real dangers that the medical benefits of genomics research may be very expensive, thus making the existing inequalities in health care around the world even more pronounced. The lack of biotechnology and information technology capacity in many developing countries in also of concern.
Societies need to be better prepared for the era of genomics. Genomics research is complex and an understanding of its medical potential and the ethical issues involved requires a basic understanding of the basic principles of genetics. This publication serves as a state-of-the-art guide to this most exciting field of science. We recommend it highly.

Guidelines for Essential Trauma Care

World Health Organization
2004, x + 93 pages (English)
ISBN 92 4 154640 9
Sw. fr. 24 / US $ 21.60
In developing countries: Sw. fr. 16.80

It is sometimes forgotten that in developing countries surgery and operative procedures also fall within essential medical care. In this regard we have, earlier, reviewed the WHO book Surgical Care at the District Hospital. Now comes this welcome book on Essential Trauma Care.
Injury has become a major cause of death and dis-ability worldwide. Organ-ized approaches to its prevention and treatment are needed. These guidelines seek to set achievable standards for trauma treatment services which could real-istically be made available to almost every injured person in the world. They then seek to define the resources that would be necessary to ensure such care.
The authors of the guidelines have developed a series of resource tables for essential trauma care that detail the human and physical resources that should be in place to assure optimal care of the injured patient at the range of health facilities throughout the world, from rural health posts, to small hospitals, to hospitals
staffed by specialists, to tertiary care centres.
They also take into account the varying resource availability across the spectrum of low- and middle-income countries. Finally, a series of recommendations is made on methods to promote such standards including training, performance improvement, trauma team organization, and hospital inspection. The resource table and associated recommendations are intended to provide a template to assist individual countries in organizing and enhancing their own trauma treatment systems.
It is anticipated that the template will be adapted to suit local circumstances.
We highly recommend this as an essential tool in essential care.

Inheriting the World
The Atlas of Children’s Health and the Environment

World Health Organization
By B. Gordon, R. Mackay and E. Rehfuess
2004, 64 pages (English)
ISBN 92 4 159156 0
Sw. fr. 30 / US $ 27.00
In developing countries: Sw. fr. 21

Every child has the right to live in a healthy, supportive environment - an environment that encourages growth and development, and protects from disease. Many of the world’s children, however, are exposed to hazards in the very places that should be safest - the home, school, and community. Considering that their growing bodies are particularly sensitive to environmental threats, the final burden of childhood disease is substantial.
This atlas articulates where and why more than three million children die every year due to unhealthy environments. It tackles issues as diverse as the devastating and largely unknown impact of indoor air pollution, the unfashionable tragedy of sanitation, and complex emerging issues like climate change.
Full-colour maps and graphics clearly demonstrate the threats that children face everywhere, and underscore the impact of poverty on children’s health. While this crisis cannot be ignored and demands urgent action, success stories, such as the Montreal Protocol, show a way forward for the world to make sure that our children will inherit a safer planet and a brighter future.

Human Rights and Societies in Transition:
Causes, Consequences, Responses

Edited by Shale Horowitz
and Albrecht Schnabel
500 pages (English)
ISBN 92 808 1092 8
US $ 45.00
United Nations University Press

Human rights violations are often particularly severe in transition societies that are undergoing significant political, social, and economic transformations. Improving human rights practices in transition societies should therefore be a central goal for domestic reformers and the international community alike. This makes sense not only because of the intrinsic value of improved human rights protections, but also because of the indirect effects that such improvements have on democratization, economic development, and conflict resolution.
Human Rights and Societies in Transition: Causes, Consequences, Responses is a joint effort by 17 scholars from various parts of the world, specializing in political science, sociology, law, and regional studies, exploring the contemporary international human rights regime, the factors predominantly responsible for human rights violations in transition societies, and the long-term consequences of such violations. The book further examines how nongovernmental organizations, intergovernmental organizations, and states can most constructively pre-empt or correct transition-related human rights violations, and prevent the related relapse of these societies into government failure, economic devastation, communal violence, and war.

Shale Horowitz is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Albrecht Schnabel is a Senior Research Fellow at swisspeace - Swiss Peace Foundation, Bern.