Recent events and conflicts worldwide, such as the ones in the Middle East, Ukraine, Europe, and the U.S. raise concern that, if unchecked, will lead to wider wars and even more catastrophic losses of lives. Most of them have a common denominator, intervention into other countries’ affairs.

Armed intervention in other countries has not led to better living conditions for their populations. In most cases, it has had the opposite effect. And this is true not only in the case of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is also true of Palestine, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, and all other countries where the so called “leading democracies” have recently intervened.

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East is a showcase of wrong, cruel policies. According to the Watson Institute for International & Public Affairs at Brown University, since the beginning of the war in Gaza, 96 percent of its population (2.15 million people) face acute levels of food insecurity. On October 2, 2024, a group of US physicians sent a letter to President Biden stating that 62,413 people in Gaza have died of starvation.

The same report asserts that the US led post 9/11 wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, and Somalia have caused at least 4.5 to 4.7 million deaths (both directly and indirectly) and counting. The number of those injured is probably much higher. Indirect deaths are the result of widespread malnutrition and the destruction of healthcare systems and the environment.

In his poem “How to create an enemy” writer Sam Keen reminds us of the brutality of war:

“When your icon of the enemy is complete
you will be able to kill without guilt,
slaughter without shame.”

George Washington alerted us to the dangers of foreign entanglements, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us about the threat to dtemocracy of the “military-industrial complex.” This complex is made up of people who have children and grandchildren to whom they want to leave a better world. But a world where war shows its demonic face is not a better world.

In health-related missions that I have conducted in dozens of developing countries I have seen the ugly face of widespread poverty and disease. And I have seen the terrible consequences of war and displacement in countries such as El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Mozambique, Malawi, and Angola.

Are these tragedies inevitable? Is it possible that instead of intervening in other countries’ affairs or exporting war we export technology together with teachers, artists, doctors, and researchers to help create a better world? I am convinced it is possible. Why not foster policies based on humane values? We need to replace the paradigm of confrontation for one of cooperation.

Policies should be developed and implemented for improving people’s lives worldwide; policies that could help combat poverty and disease in developing countries, providing them with low-priced agricultural machinery and fair-trade conditions. These policies should include an exchange of artists, sports figures, and physicians and researchers with other countries. We need to step up contact among people. We fear what we don’t know.

Savings from war could help a concerted effort to eliminate disease among the poorest of the poor; strengthen research projects leading to better health and quality of life for everyone; conquer dreadful diseases such as Alzheimer’s, lung and heart disease, chronic diseases and cancer, to name a few. Finding a cure for them sooner would have an enormous impact on people’s health and quality of life at equally enormous material savings.

Something is being done already, but it is totally, abysmally insufficient. We have the resources. What we need is a new look at life and its wondrous possibilities. I may be called naïve. But those who are not naïve are the ones who have led us into these wars. We can create a better world, if we truly want it.

César Chelala is an international public health consultant and an award-winning writer on human rights issues. He has conducted health-related missions in over 50 countries worldwide.