Big salute to Richard Horton and Neil as well for republishing this. I find it most unusual, unacceptable, awful and all the words that can come to mind from non-English speaker to deplore the stand of many many “democratic” countries in Europe and North America that fully, unequivocally and without question support and endorse the actions of the governments that are “Authoritarian regimes are tightening their grip - suppressing freedoms, repressing minorities, and violently putting down protests. Democracies feel fragile, brittle, uncertain how to respond”. Dr Richard is one of the people who have free mind and like to see their own government “free” from this hypocrisy. Double standards in health and equity and everywhen and in everything.
Best regards. Najeeb Al-Shorbaji
HIFA profile: Najeeb Al-Shorbaji recently retired from the World Health Organization (WHO), where he has worked since 1988 in different capacities. He was most recently Director of the Knowledge, Ethics and Research Department at WHO headquarters, Geneva. Previously he was Coordinator for Knowledge Management and Sharing in EMRO (Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office), Egypt. He is a member of a number of national and international professional societies and associations specialised in information management and health informatics. He has authored over 100 research papers and articles presented in various conferences and published in professional journals. He is a member of the HIFA Steering Group and the HIFA Working Group on Multilingualism.
http://www.hifa.org/support/members/najeeb