Health, peace and conflict: roles for health professionals

摘要

Welcome to issue 26(2) of Medicine, Conflict and Survival. The role of health professionals in relation to conflict has been an important theme of the journal since its inception and we return to it in this issue. Three of the contributions directly examine the role of medical and other health professionals in mitigating the effects of conflicts, providing vital services during war, and helping to build the conditions for peace. They are linked by a common thread: that health professionals have a variety of roles to play in relation to conflict, and that they must be urged to redouble their efforts. A fourth article examines the difficult issues surrounding the representation of the damage that war inflicts on human bodies and our final contribution reports a pilot study looking at how the mental health of Sudanese refugees may have been affected by their interactions with the UN agency charged with protecting them.