'This comprehensive and complete work will save many a researcher weeks of hunting around for the latest tables and figures (I checked to see if there were any more recent data for some key tables and found none). There are many issues dealt with in depth by the best of scholars, many with first-hand experience of the countries and health problems under discussion. ... this user-friendly mine of data is thematic and lucid.' - The Lancet'Health and Development can be recommended as a source text for students ... an easily accessible book for the general reader, also, it should prove popular through the rest of the decade.' - International Journal of Edidemiology