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About this dossier

This dossier is intended to provide policy makers and decision makers with access to current thinking on issues related to health and fragile states. It has been collaboratively produced by the Health and Development Information team and Eldis - both at the Institute of Development Studies - and the Health and Fragile States Network (HFSN).

Who are the Health and Fragile States Network?

Providing health services in fragile states and conflict-affected settings is a challenge for national and local governments, civil society organisations and donor agencies. To help address this challenge, a new Health and Fragile States Network was created in October 2007 by a group of interested agencies and donors. The aim is to stimulate the policy and research agenda around how to best organise and finance health services in these environments. The Steering Committee consists of representatives from DFID, European Commission, HealthNet TPO, International Medical Corps (IMC), International Rescue Committee (IRC-UK), Merlin, Save the Children UK, University of New South Wales Sydney, UNICEF, World Bank and WHO. The Secretariat is hosted at the Conflict and Health Programme at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The Network is aimed at health professionals and others interested in health issues and health system strengthening in fragile states.

What do HFSN do?

The objectives of the Network are to:

Foster dialogue and debate, raise awareness and advocate for best practice on a variety of different issues related to health in fragile states
Inform and influence policy issues related to health in fragile states
Identify research topics, elicit funding for research and commission research in order to strengthen the evidence base
Improve knowledge management by documenting the evidence base and widely disseminating lessons learned
Encourage links between actors working in the health sector in fragile states
Encourage links to other sectors, such as governance, education, water/sanitation, and livelihoods.

If you would like to know more about the Network or are interested in becoming a member, then please sign in on the website. Your details will be added to an email list, and you will be contacted with regular updates about the Network. You will also be able to add documents, weblinks and calendar events to the website.

You can also contact the Secretariat for more information at: health@healthandfragilestates.org. Relevant, additional information is available on the website.

Editors and contributiors to the dossier:

The following people contributed to the writing and development of the dossier:

Olga Bornemisza, LSHTM
Nichola Cadge, Save the Children UK
Fiona Campbell, Merlin
Steve Commins, IMC/UCLA
Egbert Sondorp, LSHTM
Annemarie ter Veen, LSHTM

With editorial and other inputs provided by:

Tom Barker, Acting Information Manager, Health and Development Information, Institute of Development Studies
Jason Collodi, Editor, Eldis, Institute of Development Studies
Leah Murphy, Editor, Eldis, Institute of Development Studies
Anna Thompson, Acting Research and Communications Officer, Health and Development Information, Institute of Development Studies

What is a dossier?

A dossier is an online, dynamic guide that provides narrative and up-to-date resources to guide the user through the key issues and debates on a specific development theme. The authors and editors ensure the dossier remains relevant and cutting-edge by regularly updating and incorporating new debates, case-studies and research papers. The editors also welcome new contributions from researchers and practitioners.