July 15, 2025

The War Economy of the Fragmented Healthcare System in Syria (Episode 38)

42 minutes

In this episode, regional experts of the Middle East share their knowledge about Syria's healthcare system and how it has been affected by years of conflict.

Based on research from the book "Everybody's War: Politics of Aid in the Syria Crisis," (published by Oxford University Press), our guests provide thoughtful analysis of several important issues:

The connection between healthcare provision and questions of state legitimacy
How Syria's once-unified healthcare system became fragmented during the war
The complex dynamics of delivering humanitarian aid in a polarized conflict environment

The discussion examines the practical and ethical challenges facing healthcare workers and aid organizations operating in contexts where corruption and restricted access are common. The experts provide an informative overview for listeners interested in understanding the intersection of healthcare delivery, conflict, and humanitarian response in complex emergency settings.

This episode offers valuable insights into how humanitarian assistance functions within the broader political and economic realities of the Syrian crisis.

Omar Dewachi is associate professor at Rutgers University whose work is at the intersections of global health, history of medicine and political anthropology. His scholarship focuses on the human and environmental manifestations of decades of conflict and military interventions in Iraq and the broader Middle East.

Duncan McLean is a senior researcher for Doctors Without Borders . He has published widely on the humanitarian sector and has contributed chapters to book publications Saving Lives and Staying Alive, The Politics of Fear, and Everybody’s War. Dr. Mclean holds a PhD in history and has lectured at several universities in the Czech Republic, France and the UK, focusing on epidemiological and colonial history.

Aula Abbara is a consultant in Infectious Diseases/ General Internal Medicine at Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust, London and an Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at Imperial College. She teaches and supervises students on the Global Health BSc course at Imperial College and the TMIH at LSHTM.

#Syria #Healthcare #HumanitarianCrisis #MiddleEast #ForeignAid

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By Rutgers Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR)

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