Citation

Standley CJ, Jumaan AO, Sorrell EM, El Bcheraoui C. Front. Public Health 2022; 10: e946090.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Frontiers Editorial Office)

DOI

10.3389/fpubh.2022.946090

PMID

35795694

PMCID

PMC9251487

Abstract

In late 2020, we launched a Research Topic on humanitarian health. We deliberately kept the scope broad to showcase diverse health topics and geography, especially from countries impacted by violence and conflict not commonly represented in scientific publications. These environments provide distinct and varied challenges for research and provision of health services compared to other types of humanitarian emergency. We aimed at assembling a collection of papers highlighting the extraordinary work performed by individuals and groups to both advance health, and, simultaneously, generate evidence that can be used to improve outcomes in similar settings and circumstances. The resulting submissions achieved our aim. Given that the COVID-19 pandemic was raging during the entire review period of the submissions, the issue includes several papers on COVID-19, albeit from diverse perspectives and populations. Here, we summarize the key findings and implications of the papers and include observations derived from this experience around conducting and publishing health research in conflict and violence-affected humanitarian settings.

In total, six papers were accepted to the Research Topic, representing substantial geographical diversity in conflict settings: Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Ethiopia. Most of the papers sought to examine the influence of conflict on health. For example, Dureab et al. analyzed the ways in which conflict has influenced fragmentation of the Yemeni health system. The authors identify different forms of fragmentation, and note that while exacerbated by conflict, the fragmentation of Yemen's health system is multifactorial and existed prior to the current period of violence. Prioritizing support and capacity strengthening for local and national health authorities is identified as a key opportunity for successfully implementing programs, especially related to integration of primary care...

Language: en

Keywords

Ethiopia; *Violence; Afghanistan; Iraq; conflict and violence; health equity; humanitarian health; Lebanon; Yemen