Vulnerable populations and inequalities in sickness and in health: The rehabilitation of the disabled and/or invalids of the Spanish Civil War

Abstract

he way in which the notion of vulnerability has been defined in different ways throughout history and how different vulnerable populations have been identified in each historical period, have been the main aim of the Phoenix Tn Workshop Vulnerable populations and welfare reforms (Paris, 2008, March 28–29). Although one of these previously acknowledged vulnerable populations consisted of those who suffered the impact of warfare, there is no doubt that the development of the First World War gave rise to a new vulnerable population: the disabled and invalid of that war. Faced with this problem, each country and its medical community tried to find a solution to encompass current international ideas favourable to the rehabilitation of the disabled and/or invalids, as well as to adapt to the individual circumstances of each of the countries concerned. As historiography has shown, the rehabilitation of civil and military