The invasion of Iraq is expected to kill several hundred thousand people both directly and through the breakdown of an already enfeebled health system. The editorial points to the injustice of spending billions of dollars on war while depriving essential health programmes of funds.
An article in our January issue supporting the use of electroconvulsive therapy without anaesthesia has drawn a sharp response. We carry both points of view for our readers and welcome discussion to further a debate on this important subject.
A report on the Ethics and Health Unit of the WHO, established in October 2002, describes the challenges it faces and its plans for the future.A researcher discusses the barriers posed by language and culture when ensuring informed consent in survey research.
Genetic technology is opening up a host of new possibilities for diagnosis and treatment but the cost of these new technologies pose their own ethical dilemmas. A doctor and a health economist discuss the subject from their different perspectives.
Cover photograph reproduced with permission from Exposure: portrait of a corporate crime. Photographs of Bhopal by Raghu Rai. Published by Greenpeace International, Amsterdam, August 2002