Over the last year a new collaboration – Global Alliance on War, Conflict and Health – has been created and led by Dr Samer Jabbour and Dr Marian Abouzeid from the American University of Beirut with colleagues from across the international community to raise the collaborative voice of health science to present the health-based case for preventing war, collective violence and armed conflict as fundamental threats to health and health systems. This collaboration involves policy makers, researchers, humanitarian workers and other practitioners in allied fields working to prevent and mitigate the health effects of war and armed conflict and rebuild post-conflict. The Alliance works to raise awareness of the health consequences of war and armed conflict and strives to enhance the capacity of researchers and others in countries experiencing the lived burden of war and uses data and evidence to inform action and insist justice and accountability comprise the foundations for peace and health. R4HC-MENA (through the participation of Professor Rita Giacaman and Professor Richard Sullivan) has been supporting this exciting new initiative through funding evidence collection around the state of research into global conflict and health both to guide the Alliance’s strategy and identify global research partners. The Alliance is being further supported by the Lancet (Tamara Lucas and Richard Horton).
Professor Richard Sullivan