Conflict & Health
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA State of the World Population 2015), estimated that one billion people, or about 14% of the world’s population live in areas of conflict and that 74% of all direct conflict related deaths in the last 20 years have occurred in Central & Eastern Africa, North Africa and the Middle East and South Asia. The report highlighted the critical shortage of evidence to inform policy to mitigate against the effects of conflict on health, and help recover health after conflict.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA State of the World Population 2015), estimated that one billion people, or about 14% of the world’s population live in areas of conflict and that 74% of all direct conflict related deaths in the last 20 years have occurred in Central & Eastern Africa, North Africa and the Middle East and South Asia. The report highlighted the critical shortage of evidence to inform policy to mitigate against the effects of conflict on health, and help recover health after conflict.
The Conflict and Health Research Group (CHRG) at King's brings together expertise from across KCL including Health Partnerships, Global Health and Social Medicine, the African Leadership Centre and War Studies, to study the intersection of global health, security, and political governance in conflict-affected fragile states and regions. Through strategic partnerships and collaborations in novel areas of research, the CHRG is working to translate evidence into policy in countries where there is critical need.
From studying the impact of the Basic Package of Health Services in Afghanistan with NICE International, to the security challenges to the eradication of polio in Pakistan, and the global public health impact of explosive remnants of war, the CHRG is working in the field with in-country and international partners to make a difference in conflict-affected areas. Since its launch in 2014, the Conflict & Health Research Group has published over 50 papers and is currently involved in two Lancet Commissions. The CHRG contributed to the UNFPA Report 2015 - State of World Population and has hosted four major round tables areas including non-communicable diseases in Syria; Post-Ebola Construction, Infrastructure, Mining and Concessions (CIMIC); and the Violence Against Health Group.
In 2017, members of the Conflict and Health Group, working with colleagues at Imperial College and Cambridge, were awarded £6 million from the ESRC Global Challenges Research fund to build sustainable research capacity and capability for the health sector in four conflict-affected states in the MENA region; Lebanon (American University of Beirut), Palestine (Birzeit University), Turkey (Hacettepe University) and Jordan (King Hussein Cancer Centre). The R4HC-MENA project (2017-2021) will focus on the political economy of health in conflict; cancer and palliative care; and mental health research. The program will translate research into policy and critically inform the development of affordable and equitable models of care in complex non-communicable diseases across the MENA and other regions affected by war.