Review behalf of disadvantaged children throughout the world. This approach has been highly successful in relation to landmines and cluster bombs.11 14 A recent successful initiative in the UK was a national meeting organised by the International Child Health Group, which is associated with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, on armed conﬂict and its effect on mothers and children.29 The education of both health professionals and the public on the impact of armed conﬂict on child health is essential. The decision by three international medical journals to each produce a special issue on the theme of conﬂict, violence and health is to be welcomed.30 It is also a topic that should be included within the undergraduate curriculum of all health professionals. An informed and candid debate on the nature of armed conﬂict—and on how to prevent and avoid these conﬂicts—is essential if the international community is to make any impact on the many problems produced by the effects of armed con- ﬂict on women and children. Armed conﬂict is not inevitable and is an important public health issue which has a major adverse impact on children worldwide. Acknowledgements Dr Rieder holds the CIHR-GSK Chair in Paediatric Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Western Ontario. Provenance and peer review Commissioned; externally peer reviewed. REFERENCES 1. Pearn J. Children and war. J Paediatr Child Health 2003;39:166–72. 2. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Sipri yearbook 2009: armaments, disarmament and international security. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2009. 3. UNICEF. Machel study 10-year strategic review. Children and conﬂict in a changing world. UNICEF, New York, USA, 2009. 4. United Nations. 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