This week's Lancet (p 1851 and 1893) carries two disturbing
portraits of the health situation in Iraq, almost a decade after
the overt hostilities of the Gulf conflict came to an end.
Bringing the tools of epidemiology and demography to bear on
warravaged areas is always difficult, and Iraq, despite its
relatively well-developed infrastructure pre-war, has proved no
exception. Earlier studies have been criticised, but Mohamed Ali
and Iqbal Shah are very careful to reassure readers that their
data from household surveys a year ago in southern/central Iraq
and in the autonomous northern region are reliable. Peter
Kandela tells us what it is really like in the capital, Baghdad,
in April, 2000: “In the terrible afternoon heat…children were
cooling themselves in a stinking cesspit…just a mile or so from
the presidential palace”. But which presidential palace? This
innocent-sounding question sums up persisting doubts about
President Saddam Hussein's priorities for his country. Despite
the Oil-for-Food programme, hi