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Indian Pediatr 2015;52: 258-259 |
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The Peshawar Peril
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B Adhisivam and C Venkatesh
Department of Pediatrics, JIPMER, Pondicherry, Tamil
Nadu, India.
Email:
[email protected]
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Hardly few weeks past the award ceremony of Nobel peace prize for a
child in Pakistan and peace is in pieces by the Peshawar peril. The
horrifying incidents involving school children in Peshawar, Pakistan and
Beslan, Russia are quite disturbing and shaking the entire core of
humanity. Children form a vulnerable population at any given point of
time and during these man-made disasters, they are the worst affected
[1,2]. Why should these innocent children lose their lives for no fault
of theirs? Waging war against bacteria and viruses has no meaning when
massacres are the order of the day. Exploring mars is pointless when
these barbaric acts turn your backyards into graveyards. Terrorism is
nothing but a novel way to relive the Stone Age or even darker ages
earlier. Terrorism in any form against children is not acceptable and
there should be a global awakening in this context.
The story of an act of terror does not end on the
same day. The ripples of these events in the community and world as a
whole are long-lasting and may generate untoward side effects.
Post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) and disrupted family lives are
usually severe and difficult for management. Just like basic life
support, disaster preparedness should be made universal and should not
be the headache of the affected nation alone [3]. The terrorists, and
the culprits who sold them the weapons should be brought to book and
penalized. Media also has a moral responsibility towards the mental
wellbeing of children, and hence pictures and videos which may affect
their normal milieu should not be broadcast. According to a recent
meta-analysis, PTSD outcomes among children and adolescent survivors of
natural and man-made disasters receiving psychological interventions
were better when compared to those who did not receive any intervention
[4]. Strong social support from families, teachers, and community
coupled with economic resources to facilitate the family’s adaptation
should be part of the psychosocial rehabilitation [5]. A social change
or revolution is the need of the hour for providing children a safe
environment, irrespective of nationality and religion. All children have
the right to live and this should not remain in paper alone, but ensured
in day to day practice. Roses should neither be nipped as buds nor
soaked in blood.
References
1. Hamele M, Poss WB, Sweney J. Disaster
preparedness, pediatric considerations in primary blast injury,
chemical, and biological terrorism. World J Crit Care Med. 2014;3:15-23.
2. Adhisivam B, Srinivasan S, Soudarssanane MB,
Deepak Amalnath S, Nirmal Kumar A. Feeding of infants and young children
in tsunami affected villages in Pondicherry. Indian Pediatr. 2006;
43:724-7.
3. Pfefferbaum B, Varma V, Nitiéma P, Newman E.
Universal preventive interventions for children in the context of
disasters and terrorism. Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am.
2014;23:363-82
4. Newman E, Pfefferbaum B, Kirlic N, Tett R, Nelson
S, Liles B. Meta-analytic review of psychological interventions for
children survivors of natural and man-made disasters. Curr Psychiatry
Rep. 2014;16:462.
5. The Impact of Terrorism and Disasters on Children.
American Psychological Association. Available from:
http://http://www.apa.org/about/gr/issues/cyf/disaster. aspx.
Accessed December 29, 2014.
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