The lack of a multidisciplinary approach to health results in failure to respond to health emergencies such as natural disasters or outbreaks of diseases like Ebola. It states that action across sectors is important in all countries at all levels of development, but particularly important in low and middle income countries because of weak physical infrastructure such as lack of safe water supply, waste management and sanitation challenges, lack of social protection, rapid economic development, weak regulations and limited access of population to health care facilities. All these changes call for a "multidisciplinary wisdom to promote the health of the population." WHO has called for "action across sectors" for health and equity. Rapidly developing economies are facing health challenges.
Social transition can lead to health transition due to shifts in environmental risks, changes in human ecology, diet, disease patterns, nutrition and longevity. Economic and other stressors due to social transitions can adversely affect the health of the population. Health and illness depend on everyday life and on social and environmental conditions prevailing both at the micro and macro levels. Both in the healing art and in the art of war the ancient wisdom of Sun Tzu suffers from neglect. Similarly, in the sphere of war and turmoil, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, global military expenditure totaled $1,747 billion, around 2.4% of world gross domestic product. Ironically, India, which has become one of the favored destinations for medical tourism because of its state of art advanced medical and surgical care, has one of the worst statistics for infant mortality and under-five malnutrition. Medical tourism in India is promoted to encourage "centers of medical excellence" and enjoys state support in the form of subsidies. , The glamour and prestige associated with medical tourism in India, which mostly deals with heroic medical procedures such as joint replacements, cardiac bypass surgery and other areas of advanced medicine and which is growing at an annual rate of 30% making it worth $ 2 billion by 2015 further testifies that even today "visible medicine and end-stage surgery" attracts fame from far and wide. Countries devote the bulk of their health budget for taking care of sick people while much better results could be achieved by preventing illness and promoting health. When planning health services, the focus is usually on diseases and their treatments, which conveys (wrongly) that the only way to solve the health problems of populations is medical assistance and health insurance systems. This ideal strategy where one could win without fighting accomplish the most by doing the least, stems from the philosophy of Taoism, the ancient tradition of knowledge that fostered both the healing arts and the martial arts in ancient China.Īttitudes have not changed much from the days in ancient China. Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese general mentions in The Art of War, that winning 100 battles by fighting the enemy requires immense skill and intelligence, but winning 100 battles without fighting a single battle is the real art of war which avoids the exorbitant costs of fighting 100 battles. The translator of Sun Tzu's classic goes on to explain that while the healing art and the art of war may appear to be poles apart, they involve common strategies, which draw on ancient wisdom. This ancient Chinese wisdom sums up the paradox of fame attributed to practitioners of medicine. "As for me, I puncture veins, prescribe potions, and massage skin, so from time to time my name gets out and is heard among the lords."
"My second brother cures sickness when it is still extremely minute, so his name does not get out of the neighborhood." "My eldest brother sees the spirit of sickness and removes it before it takes shape, so his name does not get out of the house." The famous doctor of ancient China replied, Available from: Ī physician who belonged to a family of healers in ancient China was once asked which one of his three brothers applied the most wisdom in the healing arts. Healing art vis-a-vis the art of War: Neglect of ancient wisdom.