Healthcare
Promoting health equity in conflict-affected fragile states
A review of factors that jeopardise healthcare equity in fragile states
Authors:
K. Ransom; T. Poletti; O. Bornemisza; E. Sondorp
Publisher:
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine , 2007
This paper, by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, looks at the factors that threaten health equity and health care equity in conflict and post-conflict fragile states, and identifies strategies to reduce the impact of these factors. In contexts where high levels of conflict exist, humanitarian agencies are the only institutions able to provide services which should be delivered in accordance with principles of impartiality. In post conflict settings, addressing conflict and state fragility are fundamental to addressing health equity in the longer-terms; without security and stability, policies to address equity will have less impact.
Policies to address health inequities must be multi-sectoral and include strategies to tackle fundamental social determinants of health, especially nutrition, water, sanitation and basic education. The paper concludes that conflicts are themselves social determinants of health. The important underlying question is not how health programmes are implemented, but rather how the health sector can contribute to identifying and resolving the political, social and even economic drivers of fragility within a given country or region.
