Starvation, disease, death, war, and migration in many developing countries underscore the need for support from the richer nations of the world.

In Afghanistan, for example, resources for hospital medicine are appallingly few, as I witnessed during a visit to the department of Intemal medicine In the Public Health Hospital, Jalalabad, during 1994-95.

Infectious disease accounted for more than half of all admissions (mostly malaria and typhoid), and giving multiple drugs was common.

According to a WHO report In 1994, conditions in the wards of the department were « the worst... anywhere in the world ».

Doctors'salaries were so low that income was supplemented by work In private clinics, where only the better-off could afford to pay for consultation and laboratory tests.

While poverty and political Instability remain, there is little hope for Afghanistan.