THIS VOLUME REVIEWS the applicability of rural primary health care experience to urban settings. Various research approaches to urban public health are considered, with the authors demonstrating the importance of applying research to policy problems. The realities of urban environmental health and health service provision are discussed in the context of wider public health issues. The book aims to set agendas for future health care initiatives and is designed to be a resource for government, NGOs and policy makers working in the field of urban health.

The editors have divided the 12 papers into four sections. The first four contributors consider urban health policies in Jamaica and in UN agencies, and review research techniques used in the last ten years. An argument is made for more "…humanistic, interpretative and critical power-centred approaches" to the understanding of health care delivery. These papers set the broad context for the second part of the book, which considers health systems in Harare, Karachi and Lusaka. Each paper suggests future plans and actions that will respond directly to the problems they identify.

Part III concerns environmental health policy and begins with a review of past research. A comparative study of Accra, Jakarta and Sao Paulo argues for locally articulated alternatives to the present political situation. The last paper in the section presents an epidemiology of road traffic accidents in Kenya, the numbers of which have increased by 250 per cent in the last 30 years. The concluding papers show how research may be translated into policy action by, for instance, involving stakeholders in the research process in non-traditional ways. A final review calls for the better integration of research and policy in the South.