Estimating the number of civilian deaths from armed conflicts.

摘要

Imagine that you are helping a population cope with the health effects of armed conflict, but have no information about whether their health is improving or not, or whether your programmes adequately address their burden of disease. If this scenario sounds abstract, think of the equivalent at the level of individual patients-eg, a medical practice that does not have a stethoscope, a pressure gauge, and laboratory tests. Such a scenario would be a woeful standard of care, which would not be tolerated by patients in rich countries where major relief agencies and their donors are based.