Realising health justice in Palestine: beyond humanitarian voices.

In the shadow of Israel's ongoing genocide throughout occupied Palestine, this article examines the moral, political, and epistemic responsibilities of humanitarian, public health, global health, medical and related communities of practice amid profound violence and injustice. In this paper we offer a three-part critique of a May 2024 commentary by Karl Blanchet and colleagues, 'Rebuilding the health sector in Gaza: Alternative humanitarian voices' (Blanchet et al. in Confl Heal 18:42, 2024).

Decolonising humanitarian health: A scoping review of practical guidance.

Despite growing calls and efforts to decolonise global and humanitarian health, there is limited practical guidance for researchers, educators and practitioners on how to do so. This paper fills this gap by offering a narrative exploration of key recommendations on decolonising global/humanitarian health research, partnerships, teaching, organisational structures and other practices. We present concrete guidelines to support humanitarian actors in decolonising their work.

Self-care for maternal and reproductive health in conflict settings: qualitative case study in Nuba Mountains, Sudan.

Introduction: Self-care is a critical component of Reproductive, Maternal, and Neonatal Health (RMNH), offering women the knowledge, skills, and autonomy needed for well-being throughout the reproductive cycle. This paper explores the significance of self-care in conflict-affected regions, where access to formal healthcare is limited. Such areas place pregnant women at higher risk due to increased incidents of adverse events during pregnancy and childbirth.

Community interventions for pandemic preparedness: A scoping review of pandemic preparedness lessons from HIV, COVID-19, and other public health emergencies of international concern.

Community action is broadly recognised as central to comprehensive and effective system responses to pandemics. However, there is uncertainty about how and where communities can be best supported to bolster long-term resilience and preparedness. We applied a typology of community interventions (Community Informing, Consulting, Involving, Collaborating or Empowering-or CICICE) to cover the diverse range of interventions identified across the literature and used this to structure a scoping review addressing three linked topics: (i) how CICICE interventions have been understood and applied in the literature on epidemic and pandemic preparedness; (ii) the spectrum of interventions that have been implemented to strengthen CICICE and (iii) what evidence is available on their effectiveness in influencing preparedness for current and future emergencies.

Strengthening health systems and peacebuilding through women's leadership: a qualitative study.

Background: Active and protracted conflict settings demonstrate the need to prioritise the peace through health agenda. This can be achieved by reorienting attention toward gender diverse leadership and more effective governance within health systems. This approach may enable women to have a greater voice in the decision-making of health and social interventions, thereby enabling the community led and context specific knowledge required to address the root causes of persistent inequalities and inequities in systems and societies.

Examining the gender imbalance in the National Community Health Assistant Programme in Liberia: a qualitative analysis of policy and Programme implementation.

The Revised National Community Health Services Policy (2016-2021) (RNCHSP) and its programme implementation, the Liberian National Community Health Assistant Programme (NCHAP), exhibit a critical gender imbalance among the Community Health Assistants (CHAs) as only 17% are women. This study was designed to assess the gender responsiveness of the RNCHSP and its programme implementation in five counties across Liberia to identify opportunities to improve gender equity in the programme. Using qualitative methods, 16 semi-structured interviews were conducted with policymakers and 32 with CHAs, other members of the community health workforce and community members.

Stakeholders' Perception of the Palestinian Health Workforce Accreditation and Regulation System: A Focus on Conceptualization, Influencing Factors and Barriers, and the Way Forward.

The Health Workforce Accreditation and Regulation (HWAR) is a key function of the health system and is the subject of increasing global attention. This study provides an assessment of the factors affecting the Palestinian HWAR system, identifies existing gaps and offers actionable improvement solutions. Data were collected during October and November 2019 in twenty-two semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with experts, academics, leaders, and policymakers purposely selected from government, academia, and non-governmental organizations.

Drivers and consequences of child marriage in a context of protracted displacement: a qualitative study among Syrian refugees in Egypt.

Background: Child marriage is a human rights violation disproportionately impacting girls in low- and middle-income countries. In the Middle East region, conflict and displacement have prompted concerns that families are increasingly resorting to child marriage to cope with economic insecurity and fears from sexual violence. This study set out to examine child marriage among Syrian refugees residing in Egypt with the aim of understanding drivers of child marriage in this context of displacement as well as how child marriage affects refugee girls' wellbeing.