s em Europe, similar in size and population to the State of Y \ jr g California, with a long Adriatic coast which has made it one of Europe's most popular vacation spots. The area of present day Yugoslavia has for centuries been a focus ZAe% of contention between east and west. It was the site of the boundaries between the Turkish and Holy Roman Empires, Christiandom and Islam, the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches, and Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jewry. This history generated the many distinct, proud, and fiercely nationalistic ethnic groups which were united in name when Yugoslavia first came into existence as a state at the end of World War I (1). Interwar Yugoslavia was overwhelmingly rural, poor, and backward. The social and economic underdevelopment of the country was reflected in the high infant mortality rate (165 /1ooo in 1921) and the heavy toll of infectious and parasitic diseases which accounted for 30% of all deaths. Tuberculosis in particular was rampant, killing 0.3% of the population each year (z). The foundations of the health system were built by Yugoslavia's first Minister of Health, Andrija Stampar. Between the wars he established more than 250 health institutions, including the first school of public health in Eastern Europe which today bears his name (3). At the beginning of World War If the weak Yugoslav state collapsed when the country was invaded and occupied by German and Italian troops. Modern socialist Yugoslavia was born during the war in the fight against foreign and domestic fascists preaching national, racial, and religious hatred. Josip Broz Tito and the Communist Party led the anti-fascist forces in organizing an armed resistance (the Partisans) which by 1945 included over 8oo,ooo soldiers. The Partisans founded a medical corps which later