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Paul Bolton, MBBS, MPH, MSc; Theresa Stichick Betancourt, ScD, MA

JAMA. 2004;292:626-628.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

This issue of JAMA presents the findings from 2 epidemiologically well-designed studies of mental health in communities affected by the war in Afghanistan. The study by Lopes Cardozo and colleagues¹ is the first nationally representative mental health survey conducted in Afghanistan to be reported. The study by Scholte and colleagues² examined mental health symptoms among a large sample of mainly ethnic Pashtuns residing in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar, the seat of the Taliban movement. These studies add to a growing literature on the devastating impact of war on the mental health of civilian populations and to the sparse medical literature on Afghanistan since the Taliban era.^3-4

Studies of mental health during active humanitarian emergencies are rare and difficult to undertake. The careful attention given in these studies to complex sampling designs among large, representative community samples and the efforts . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Author Affiliations: Center for International Health and Development, Boston University School of Public Health (Dr Bolton), and Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine/Boston Medical Center (Dr Betancourt), Boston, Mass.

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