Bernadette O’Hare|D P Southall
First do no harm: the impact of recent armed conflict on maternal and child health in Sub-Saharan Africa
University Hospital of Wales|Royal Stoke University Hospital
objectivesto compare rates under5 mortality malnutrition maternal mortality factors influence health countries without recent conflict compare central government expenditure defence education health countries without recent conflict summarize amount spent salw main legal suppliers countries subsaharan african countries ssa summarize licensed production small arms light weapons salw countries designwe compared under5 mortality rate 2004 adjusted maternal mortality ratio ssa experienced recent armed conflict post1990 also compared percentage children underweight sets countries expenditure defence health education settingdemographic data central government expenditure details 19942004 taken unicefs state worlds children 2006 report results21 countries 21 countries experienced recent conflict dataset 42 countries ssa median under5 mortality countries recent conflict 1971000 live births versus 1371000 live births countries without recent conflict countries experienced recent conflict median 27 under5s moderately underweight versus 22 countries without recent conflict median adjusted maternal mortality countries recent conflict 1000100000 births versus 690100000 births countries without recent conflict median reported maternal mortality ratio also significantly higher countries recent conflict expenditure health education significantly lower expenditure defence significantly higher recent conflict conclusionsthere appears association recent conflict higher rates under5 mortality malnutrition maternal mortality governments spend defence less health education recent conflict salw main weapon used france uk appear two main suppliers salw ssa