Editorial 
This issue of the Journal marks the beginning of the fourth year of its 
publication. This initial period has been a worthwhile and interesting 
experience, which has shown that a Journal which originates in, and is 
controlled and distributed from, an African country can be produced 
regularly and maintain the interest of both practitioners and academics in a 
variety of fields. Much of the credit for the successful launching of the 
Journal must go to the founding Editor, Joe Hampson, the existing 
Editorial Board, and the funding organisation, who are all to be thanked 
and congratulated. 
This fourth year of publication of the Journal also brings a new Editor, as 
Joe Hampson has had to take a new post which will not allow him to devote 
to the Journal die time required to be Editor. He will, however, continue as 
member of the Editorial Board. 
A change of Editor seems an opportune time to reflect on the place and 
aims of the Journal. In its first few years the Journal set out to publish 
critical analyses of social development issues as they affect the poor and 
marginalised in society, and to deal widi concerns particularly relevant in 
Southern Africa and the so-called Third-World. In doing diis the Journal 
was also attempting to build a body of local material which originated in 
and serves this area, and which would be able to inform teaching dieory 
and practice in social development and related fields. These general aims 
for the Journal remain valid, and the next three year period will continue 
widiin mese terms of reference, particularly encouraging African and Third 
World scholars and practitioners to contribute to the debates surrounding 
issues of development, participation, information and so on, which are so 
critical for us in the Third World. 
In the next three year period it is hoped that a number of associated 
publications will be produced by the Journal, including an Occasional Paper 
series, a Social Work Fieldwork Manual, and a number of workshop reports. 
In addition, die Journal hopes to host, or co-host, a number of local and 
regional workshops relating to various social development issues. 
In this issue of the Journal there are a number of themes that unite in 
some way die various articles that are included in it. Among these diemes 
are die issues of change in social organisations; die breakdown, widi 
increasing modernisation and urbanisation, of traditional support 
structures; die lack of a clear understanding of diis breakdown by die state 
machinery which could move in to fill die gap; and special interest groups.
In Rwezaura's challenging article "Changing Community Obligations to 
die Elderly in Contemporary Africa" he looks at changes in traditional 
support structures and associated positions of power for the elderly. His 
analysis of die way in which die elderly are trying to retain their power and 
prestige in a changing world leads him to call for an urgent review of die 
institutional structures that deal widi die elderly, and official recognition of 
die increasing ineffectiveness of traditional support structures. Swift, in her 
article "Support for die Dying and Bereaved in Zimbabwe: Traditional and 
New Approaches", takes a similar look at approaches to die dying and 
bereaved. She argues diat some new approaches to dealing widi diese issues 
can be seen as converging widi traditional support systems, and diat a 
recognition of die value of cross-fertilisation between diese approaches 
could inform new and relevant ways to provide support for die dying and 
bereaved. 
Lergo argues, in "Patterns of Psychiatric Illness. A Study in Kaduna 
Psychiatric Facilities", diat die growing complexity of society, and die 
growing contradictions between the traditional stated value system and the 
actual practices needed to succeed in modern Nigeria, have increased die 
stresses and pressures placed on ordinary people. These stress factors are 
developing without the concurrent development of new 'modern' support 
structures to replace die traditional support and protective networks. As a 
result a certain population group (young, married, male, city dweller, selfemployed, 
widi little or no formal education) can be identified which seems 
to be particularly vulnerable to psychiatric illness. 
In "Mental Healdi: Perspectives of Resolving Social Stigma in Employment 
for Ex-Mental Patients", Osei-Hwedie argues diat die state must play 
its part in initiating changes in attitudes to the mentally ill, including die 
drawing up of a Bill of Rights for die mentally ill, which would help to 
surmount prejudice and discrimination against this group of people. 
Mwansa takes up die question ol political will in relation to the distribution 
(or more accurately mal-distribution) of healdi services. Mwansa's article, 
"Rural-Urban Healdi Care Service Imbalances in Zambia: Forces and 
Outcomes", defines political will as a major issue in making decisions for 
change. A particular area of change includes changes in the rural-urban 
distribution of services, which would counteract historical imbalances 
which appear to be being perpetuated in post-colonial independent states.