Health aid displacement during a decade of conflict (2011-19) in Syria: an exploratory analysis.

Background: Syria has been in continuous conflict since 2011, resulting in more than 874,000 deaths and 13.7 million internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees. The health and humanitarian sectors have been severely affected by the protracted, complex conflict and have relied heavily on donor aid in the last decade.

Health system evaluation in conflict-affected countries: a scoping review of approaches and methods.

Introduction: Strengthening health systems in conflict-affected settings has become increasingly professionalised. However, evaluation remains challenging and often insufficiently documented in the literature. Many, particularly small-scale health system evaluations, are conducted by government bodies or non-governmental organisations (NGO) with limited capacity to publish their experiences.

Cancer Diagnoses during Active Conflict: Experience from a Cancer Program in Northwest Syria.

 Protracted conflict has destroyed Syria's health system with severe impacts on the diagnosis and treatment of chronic and high-cost diseases including cancer. Here, we review the type and (where possible) the stage of cancers diagnosed in a pathology laboratory serving Northwest Syria.  We retrospectively reviewed all pathology reports which reported a diagnosis of cancer from a pathology department in Northwest Syria from January to December 2020.

An analysis of humanitarian and health aid alignment over a decade (2011-2019) of the Syrian conflict.

Background: The 11 years of the devastating conflict in Syria resulted in more than 874,000 deaths, and in more than thirteen million refugees and internally displaced people (UNHCR, Syrian refugee crisis: aid, statistics and news, USA for UNHCR, Washington, 2020; Alhiraki et al. in BMJ Glob Health 7:e008624, 2022). The health system was severely affected and has become aid dependent.

"They cannot afford to feed their children and the advice is to stay home. How‥?": A qualitative study of community experiences of COVID-19 response efforts across Syria.

Introduction: COVID-19 highlighted the importance of meaningful engagement between communities and health authorities. This is particularly challenging in conflict-affected countries such as Syria, where social protection and food security needs can hinder adherence to non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and vaccine uptake. This study explored community perspectives of COVID-19 and health authority responses across the three main areas of control in Syria, i.

A missing piece in the Health for Peace agenda: gender diverse leadership and governance.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how gender diverse leadership and governance of health systems may contribute to the Health for Peace Agenda. Despite recent momentum, the evidence base to support, implement and evaluate 'Health for Peace' programmes remains limited and policy-makers in conflict settings do not consider peace when developing and implementing interventions and health policies. Through this analysis, we found that gender diverse leadership in health systems during active conflict offers greater prospects for sustainable peace and more equitable social economic recovery in the post-conflict period.

Community engagement in health systems interventions and research in conflict-affected countries: a scoping review of approaches.

Background: Healthcare research, planning, and delivery with minimal community engagement can result in financial wastage, failure to meet objectives, and frustration in the communities that programmes are designed to help. Engaging communities - individual service-users and user groups - in the planning, delivery, and assessment of healthcare initiatives from inception promotes transparency, accountability, and 'ownership'. Health systems affected by conflict must try to ensure that interventions engage communities and do not exacerbate existing problems.

Operationalising Regional Cooperation for Infectious Disease Control: A Scoping Review of Regional Disease Control Bodies and Networks.

Background: The rapid spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic demonstrates the value of regional cooperation in infectious disease prevention and control. We explored the literature on regional infectious disease control bodies, to identify lessons, barriers and enablers to inform operationalisation of a regional infectious disease control body or network in southeast Asia.

Methods: We conducted a scoping review to examine existing literature on regional infectious disease control bodies and networks, and to identify lessons that can be learned that will be useful for operationalisation of a regional infectious disease control body such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Center for Public Health Emergency and Emerging Diseases.

Whose voices should shape global health education? Curriculum codesign and codelivery by people with direct expertise and lived experience.

There are contrasting opinions of what global health (GH) curricula should contain and limited discussion on whose voices should shape it. In GH education, those with first-hand expertise of living and working in the contexts discussed in GH classrooms are often absent when designing curricula. To address this, we developed a new model of curriculum codesign called Virtual Roundtable for Collaborative Education Design (ViRCoED).

: A qualitative study of initial perceptions and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic among displaced communities in opposition-controlled northwest Syria.

Background: Response to the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged even robust healthcare systems in high-income countries. Syria, a country experiencing protracted conflict, has the largest internally-displaced population globally with most displaced settlements in opposition-controlled areas governed by local and international NGOs. This study aimed to explore community perspectives on challenges and potential solutions to reduce COVID-19 transmission among displaced communities in opposition-controlled Northwest Syria.