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Important medical issues routinely intersect with pressing social concerns. The essays in this book deal with a broad range of issues, including economic policy, HIV/AIDS, NGOs, terrorism, ethics, and the sterilization of needles. The authors have written with a spirit of cautious optimism that reflects their belief that cures and solutions are related to the identification of problems, and the advancement of hopeful solutions. The themes covered are of global interest, reflections of common human concerns that echo across the earth´s continents. What happens in South Asia influences not only the subcontinent but also the rest of humanity. Intractable problems may not have either facile or ultimate solutions, but there are ways to cut losses, minimize suffering, and approach humanity´s problems with both mind and heart. The authors offer this volume as a contribution to improving a region that will continue to shape the medical and social conditions of our collective world, a world in which critical choices must be made between private wants and community needs.

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Dr. Donald Gene Pace (two PhDs, MA, Prof. of Hist & Span) and Dr. Omar Bagasra (MD, PhD, Dir. of Biotech. Cntr.) are professors at Claflin University, South Carolina, USA. Their personal experience in South Asia, and their multidisciplinary research experience, combine to examine many topics with both medical and public policy dimensions.

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