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Abstract
We knew that contemporary war could be immensely destructive to human health. [Benjamin Coghlan] and colleagues' study, however, shows the degree to which the indirect victims of violence can outnumber those killed by combatants-by up to 90% according to the recent 2005 Human Security Report. Certain limitations of the study should be noted. Most importantly, possible confounders, such as site-specific health-services coverage, were not accounted for. Nevertheless, the evidence for a causal association between violence and all-cause mortality in DRC is hard to dismiss: regression modelling of violence-attributable mortality; comparisons of crude, under age 5 years, and maternal mortality in peaceful and non-peaceful regions; significant reductions in mortality in eastern regions and in a city (Kisangani) that were affected by violence in the initial International Rescue Committee surveys, but no longer are; and no such reductions where violence persists.