Who we are

Providing health services in fragile states and conflict affected settings is a challenge.  To help address this challenge, a new Health and Fragile States Network was created in October 2007 by a group of interested agencies and donors.  The aim is to stimulate the policy and research agenda around how to best organize and finance health services in these environments. The Steering Committee consists of representatives from the Conflict and Health Programme at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, DFID, European Commission, HealthNet TPO, International Rescue Committee (IRC), Merlin, Save the Children UK, University of New South Wales Sydney, UNICEF, World Bank and WHO.  The Secretariat has recently been handed over from the LSHTM to the International Medical Corps (IMC). The Network is aimed at health professionals and others interested in health issues and health system strengthening in fragile states.

What we do

The objectives of the Network are to:

• Foster dialogue and debate, raise awareness and advocate for best practice on a variety of different issues related to health in fragile states.
• Inform and influence policy issues related to health in fragile states.
• Identify research topics, elicit funding for research and commission research in order to strengthen the evidence base.
• Improve knowledge management by documenting the evidence base and widely disseminating lessons learned.
• Encourage links to other sectors, such as governance, education and livelihoods

If you would like to know more about the Network or are interested in becoming a member, then please sign in on the website. Your details will be added to an email list, and you will be contacted with regular updates about the Network. You will also be able to add documents, weblinks and calendar events to the website. 

You can also contact the Secretariat for more information at: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Relevant, additional information is under Recommended Documents and Network Papers, which are available on the website on the documents tab.