Violence and health in Colombia

In Colombia, violence seems uncontrollable. Along with massacres and group killings of astonishing cruelty, there are also kidnappings and disappearances, abuse of children and the elderly, and rape of young adolescents. Every day, without respite, Colombians are witnesses or victims of street crime...

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Published in:Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública
Main Author: Saúl Franco Agudelo
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Spanish
Portuguese
Published: Pan American Health Organization 1997
Subjects:
R
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1590/s1020-49891997000900002
https://doaj.org/article/bcaf73ef69ea4d52abcbb94a893d2d79
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spelling ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:bcaf73ef69ea4d52abcbb94a893d2d79 2023-05-15T15:10:39+02:00 Violence and health in Colombia Saúl Franco Agudelo 1997-09-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1590/s1020-49891997000900002 https://doaj.org/article/bcaf73ef69ea4d52abcbb94a893d2d79 EN ES PT eng spa por Pan American Health Organization http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1020-49891997000900002&lng=en&tlng=en https://doaj.org/toc/1020-4989 1020-4989 doi:10.1590/s1020-49891997000900002 https://doaj.org/article/bcaf73ef69ea4d52abcbb94a893d2d79 Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública, Vol 2, Iss 3, Pp 170-180 (1997) Medicine R Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 1997 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1590/s1020-49891997000900002 2022-12-31T14:13:43Z In Colombia, violence seems uncontrollable. Along with massacres and group killings of astonishing cruelty, there are also kidnappings and disappearances, abuse of children and the elderly, and rape of young adolescents. Every day, without respite, Colombians are witnesses or victims of street crimes as well as racial, sexual, and socioeconomic discrimination. Unwillingly, they become agents of aggression in public transport, at home, at school, and at work. Colombia has the highest rates of mortality from homicide in the world. Apart from the enormous institutional burden that violence imposes on the health services and forensic medicine, it now constitutes the principal public health problem in the country. To confront it, the health sector must develop policies and finance actions, develop innovative ways to train personnel, implement public education processes, and devote more effort and greater creativity to research, which up to now has provided some important, albeit insufficient, responses. Violence, which is the substitution of force for any type of dialogue, must be considered within the context of life and health. Doing so is not an attempt to rationalize violence, much less to substitute words or reflection for action, but rather an attempt to understand it in depth in order to search for alternatives. With that goal, this article analyzes the subject of violence in Colombia, principally from the perspective of its effect on the health of the citizens and its implications for the health sector. The author fully recognizes the subjectivity and limitations of the views he expresses herein. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública 2 3
institution Open Polar
collection Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles
op_collection_id ftdoajarticles
language English
Spanish
Portuguese
topic Medicine
R
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine
RC955-962
Public aspects of medicine
RA1-1270
spellingShingle Medicine
R
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine
RC955-962
Public aspects of medicine
RA1-1270
Saúl Franco Agudelo
Violence and health in Colombia
topic_facet Medicine
R
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine
RC955-962
Public aspects of medicine
RA1-1270
description In Colombia, violence seems uncontrollable. Along with massacres and group killings of astonishing cruelty, there are also kidnappings and disappearances, abuse of children and the elderly, and rape of young adolescents. Every day, without respite, Colombians are witnesses or victims of street crimes as well as racial, sexual, and socioeconomic discrimination. Unwillingly, they become agents of aggression in public transport, at home, at school, and at work. Colombia has the highest rates of mortality from homicide in the world. Apart from the enormous institutional burden that violence imposes on the health services and forensic medicine, it now constitutes the principal public health problem in the country. To confront it, the health sector must develop policies and finance actions, develop innovative ways to train personnel, implement public education processes, and devote more effort and greater creativity to research, which up to now has provided some important, albeit insufficient, responses. Violence, which is the substitution of force for any type of dialogue, must be considered within the context of life and health. Doing so is not an attempt to rationalize violence, much less to substitute words or reflection for action, but rather an attempt to understand it in depth in order to search for alternatives. With that goal, this article analyzes the subject of violence in Colombia, principally from the perspective of its effect on the health of the citizens and its implications for the health sector. The author fully recognizes the subjectivity and limitations of the views he expresses herein.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Saúl Franco Agudelo
author_facet Saúl Franco Agudelo
author_sort Saúl Franco Agudelo
title Violence and health in Colombia
title_short Violence and health in Colombia
title_full Violence and health in Colombia
title_fullStr Violence and health in Colombia
title_full_unstemmed Violence and health in Colombia
title_sort violence and health in colombia
publisher Pan American Health Organization
publishDate 1997
url https://doi.org/10.1590/s1020-49891997000900002
https://doaj.org/article/bcaf73ef69ea4d52abcbb94a893d2d79
geographic Arctic
geographic_facet Arctic
genre Arctic
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op_source Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública, Vol 2, Iss 3, Pp 170-180 (1997)
op_relation http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1020-49891997000900002&lng=en&tlng=en
https://doaj.org/toc/1020-4989
1020-4989
doi:10.1590/s1020-49891997000900002
https://doaj.org/article/bcaf73ef69ea4d52abcbb94a893d2d79
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