This new British Medical Journal (BMJ) study of world-wide violent deaths support the conclusion of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) Mortality Study. The IRC reported that less than one percent of the estimated 5.4 million deaths in the Congo were from violent acts.
The IRC estimated "deaths from violence accounted for just 0.4 percent of deaths nationally" in the Congo.
The BMJ Study cites 7,000 violence deaths in the Congo from 1955 to 2002. Vietnam reported highest violent death total of about 3.8 million.
Deaths in Congo caused by poverty and hunger. Therefore, they were largely preventable and treatable.
The Numbers Guy : Calculating the Toll of War.
A study last week reporting that 5.4 million people died violently in wars in 13 countries between 1955 and 2002 received world-wide press coverage, because the numbers were far greater than previously reported. Researchers also suggested that war deaths weren’t declining over the period, as had been previously believed.
But the new numbers are extrapolated from just 917 deaths reported in surveys, so they entail great uncertainty. The study’s global implications were also limited by lack of survey data in many countries with conflicts during the period, including Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Israel and neighboring Arab nations. And it counted only violent deaths, not deaths caused by poverty and hunger brought on by war. If nothing else, it’s a valuable reminder that better efforts are needed to record the human toll from war.
Accurate war-death numbers help countries look backward and forward, according to study co-author Ziad Obermeyer, a research scientist at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, and a Boston-based emergency-medicine doctor. The numbers are “part of a country’s historical record,” and have been used for prosecuting war criminals. And they are “important for policy makers and for the public,” in deciding whether to go to war.
PRAYER:
Dear Heavenly Father, empower the leaders of the international community to bring peace and stability to Congo. And empower the government of Congo and other humanitarian organizations to help end poverty and hunger in the Congo. AMEN.
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