EDITORIAL
Public health
The poverty of public health in a dominant power
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor N Milio
Carrington Hall, number 7460, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7460, USA; nancy_milio@unc.edu
The recent hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico exposed the poverty of US public health infrastructure, weakened by years of budgetary neglect.
Keywords: natural disasters; USA; poverty; public health
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Katrina and Rita, the unprecedented September hurricanes and massive Gulf of Mexico surge, overpowered the levees of New Orleans and flooded state coastlines. They also exposed the poverty of US public health infrastructure, weakened by years of budgetary neglect.
Tens of thousands of New Orleanians were trapped in the city. They were mostly poor African Americans who had no cars and no access to the limited numbers of buses that were available. Fifteen thousand eventually made it to safety in the Astrodome stadium. Thousands more sought refuge in an unattended convention centre, virtually unknown to authorities. Here they attempted to survive in extreme heat, without adequate sanitation, water or food for several days. The ill, elders, and children suffered most; several died; a third had been injured by the storm; 40% had chronic diseases; a third were without necessary medications. Over half had no health insurance and many
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J Epidemiol Community Health 2006 60: 1.[Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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