Health Care Delivery Under Conflict

The broad objective of the study is to appraise the readiness of West African countries to provide health care in post-conflict environments. It is particularly concerned with the building of sustainable national and regional human, material and institutional capacity in order to confront specific health problems induced by conflict.

The conflict countries under consideration are Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone. Factors considered are the health impacts of armed conflicts and how these are addressed; the health status of post-conflict countries; epidemiological patterns; and the overall linkages between health, poverty and conflict. The study further considers the contributions of international and statutory agencies, NGOS, and regional bodies, such as ECOWAS, and the West African Health Organisation; and the provision of legal and institutional frameworks for health care. It ends with several recommendations and conclusions, notably that West African countries are not adequately prepared for health care delivery either under conflict or post-conflict; and that ECOWAS and agencies at regional level are not equipped to deal with the problems either.

The Programme on Global Security and Sustainability of the John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation funded the research that gave rise to this publication.