War exposure: an under-appreciated determinant of population health in Asia

ABSTRACT War exposure is a critical yet often ignored determinant of health in Asia. Cursory calculations suggest up to 80 per cent of Asians were alive at a point when a cumulatively intense war was ongoing in their country of current residence. As an example, data from Vietnam indicate that large proportions alive during past wars in that country experienced very traumatic and stressful events such as bombing in their region of residence and witnessing a war-related death. Burgeoning literature suggest that this type of exposure to wartime trauma has effects on health that continue throughout life. This evidence, coupled with the ongoing population aging across Asia and the concurrent numbers of those moving into old age that were exposed to war at some point during their life, implicates war and the trauma that comes with it as one factor shaping population health in Asia.