Epidemiology and prevention of armed conflict: the activity of the working group on war of the Italian Association of Epidemiology (AIE)

Armed conflicts continue to be a serious threat both to public health and to the environment. Between 1990 and 2001, there were 57 majors armed conflicts in 45 different placesi; the majority were internal conflicts and frequently involved regular armies, but there were also international conflicts such as the Iraq-Kuwait War, the First Gulf War, as well as conflicts between India and Pakistan and between Ethiopia and Eritrea, not to mention NATO intervention in the ex-Yugoslavia. In 2002 alone there were 21 conflicts, mainly civil wars; 2002 also saw the start of the war in Afghanistan and 2003 the Second Gulf War, both of which are still underway and spiralling towards civil war. Many conflicts, especially civil ones, are scarcely covered by the mass media despite their devastating consequences; it is estimated that since 1998 war in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed almost 4 million people, 600,000 alone between 2003 and 2004: in excess of 1200 deaths per dayii. A ceasefire has held between Israel and Lebanon since 2006, one that was reached after more than a month of conflict. Before and after the conflict in the Gaza strip Palestinians in the Occupied Territories are subjected to aggression on a daily basis, in a situation that creates global insecurity, the victim of which is also the people of Israel.