Putting health first

摘要

This issue of Medicine, Conflict and Survival focuses on the challenges of providing health and medical services in some of the most difficult environments, and the barriers populations face in accessing the care they need. For many people access means paying for services, if those services exist at all. Moreover, even if people can access services, how can they be sure that what they will receive is safe and effective healthcare? The articles in this issue illustrate these problems only too well. They highlight the desperate need for resources as well as the stark contrasts in the choices available to sick people in richer and poorer countries.