The harsh effects of sanctions on Iranian health

Abstract

We commend The Lancet for bringing to the attention of readers the devastating health effects of the sanction regime imposed on Iran by the USA.1Danaei G Harirchi I Sajadi HS et al.The harsh effects of sanctions on Iranian health.Lancet. 2019; 394: 468-469Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (11) Google Scholar Sanctions, a form of collective punishment,2UN News CenterCivilians suffering due to sanctions must be spared collective punishment urges UN rights expert.https://news.un.org/en story/2018/11/1025201Date: Nov 8, 2018Date accessed: August 16, 2019Google Scholar kill. Although sanctions are not physical weapons of war, they are just as lethal, if not more. For example, as of 1994, more than half a million Iraqi children had died under UN Security Council sanctions3Zaidi S Smith-Fawzi M Health of Baghdad's children.Lancet. 1995; 3461485Crossref PubMed Scopus (32) Google Scholar and more recently, in 2017 and 2018, 40 000 innocent civilians died in Venezuela under the US Government sanctions.4Weisbrot M Sachs J Economic sanctions as collective punishment: the case of Venezuela.http://cepr.net/publications/reports/economic-sanctions-as-collective-punishment-the-case-of-venezuelaDate: April, 2019Date accessed: August 16, 2019Google Scholar However, in our view the assertion that “the effort of the global health community will be measured against the degree to which [it] has tried to prevent the destabilisation of the health system in Iran”1Danaei G Harirchi I Sajadi HS et al.The harsh effects of sanctions on Iranian health.Lancet. 2019; 394: 468-469Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (11) Google Scholar falls far too short. Current US sanctions on Iran have done much more than destabilise the country's health system: they have destroyed the Iranian currency and thrown many Iranians into poverty, which has resulted in many people not having access to food, housing, and water.5Dehghan SK ‘A matter of life and death’: Iranians despair as US sanctions bite. The Guardian.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/07/a-matter-of-life-and-death-iraniansdespair-as-us-sanctions-biteDate: Aug 7, 2018Date accessed: August 16, 2019Google Scholar Starving the population to achieve political goals is not only illegal under international law, but it is also barbaric. Therefore, the global health community needs to see and treat these sanctions for what they are—war crimes—and hold those imposing these sanctions truly accountable.6Cockburn P It's time we saw economic sanctions for what they really are – war crimes. The Independent.https://www.independent.co.uk/voiceseconomicsanctions-north-korea-syria-hospitalsupplies-a8168321.htmlDate: Jan 19, 2018Date accessed: August 16, 2019Google Scholar Otherwise, the likelihood of ever achieving global (health) justice will remain exceedingly small. We declare no competing interests. The harsh effects of sanctions on Iranian healthIran has been under different rounds of economic sanctions since 1980. In July, 2015, the UN Security Council, Germany, and the EU were successful in forming an agreement with Iran, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), that relieved some of these sanctions. Even though the International Atomic Energy Agency verified that Iran was abiding by the provisions of the deal, US President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of the USA from the JCPOA in May, 2018. A new round of US-issued sanctions has been imposed on Iran since November, 2018, to stop Iran's oil sales. Full-Text PDF