Report from the CDC: mental health of women in postwar Afghanistan.

More than two decades of war and a culture that has denied women freedom of movement, access to healthcare, and education have affected the mental health status of Afghan women more than that of men. In 2002, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducted a national population-based mental health survey in Afghanistan. The prevalence of symptoms of depression was 73% (standard error [SE] 8.

Mental health, social functioning, and disability in postwar Afghanistan.

Context: More than 2 decades of conflict have led to widespread human suffering and population displacement in Afghanistan. In 2002, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other collaborating partners performed a national population-based mental health survey in Afghanistan.

Objective: To provide national estimates of mental health status of the disabled (any restriction or lack of ability to perform an activity in the manner considered normal for a human being) and nondisabled Afghan population aged at least 15 years.

The application of geographic information systems and global positioning systems in humanitarian emergencies: lessons learned, programme implications and future research.

Geographic information systems (GIS), global positioning systems and remote sensing have been increasingly used in public health settings since the 1990s, but application of these methods in humanitarian emergencies has been less documented. Recent areas of application of GIS methods in humanitarian emergencies include hazard, vulnerability, and risk assessments; rapid assessment and survey methods; disease distribution and outbreak investigations; planning and implementation of health information systems; data and programme integration; and programme monitoring and evaluation. The main use of GIS in these areas is to provide maps for decision-making and advocacy, which allow overlaying types of information that may not normally be linked.