Several of the world's most violent conflicts and largest humanitarian crises are taking place in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), including in Gaza, Iran, Lebanon, and Sudan. Even in Middle Eastern countries no longer at war, such as Iraq and Syria, legacies of warfare have taken a devastating toll. This open access book is designed to assess the health effects of these MENA conflicts and to highlight what is being done to overcome them. The state-of-the-art volume features the work of leading medical anthropologists, whose ethnographic case studies shed light on the political, socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental impacts of conflict, and the complexity of addressing them through timely programs and humanitarian interventions.

The volume explores the lives of MENA medical humanitarians, as well as the people they serve, with a special focus on women and children who are the groups most impacted by the conditions in war zones and refugee camps. Subjects discussed include: the reproductive health consequences of chemical weaponry, , the breakdown of medical and public health services and the resulting spread of infectious disease, and inadequate support for those with war-related disabilities, especially children. Taken together, the fifteen case studies advocate for the right to health for people who find themselves living in war-torn, post-conflict, and refugee-serving settings across the MENA region. The volume also issues a strong call for peace as a prerequisite for physical, mental, and social well-being andjustice.

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on
bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by Yale University.