A new Framework for health in the humanitarian-development-peace (HDPN) nexus in Africa provides a roadmap for integrating health into HDPN with a focus on countries affected by fragility, conflict and violence. It defines recommended actions in policy and planning, intersectoral coordination, budgeting and financing, service delivery, and monitoring and accountability. It also calls for health considerations and an effective transition across humanitarian response, development and peace building efforts to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) and advance towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
The global community has been witnessing an alarming increase in armed conflict, disasters and health emergencies including epidemics and pandemics. Countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are often most affected, with many experiencing disruptions to health services and the destruction of critical health infrastructure. The situation is further exacerbated by pre-existing vulnerabilities including fragile public health systems and widespread population displacement both within and across borders.
With a nexus approach, the framework aims to guide countries in integrating and prioritizing health across humanitarian, development and peacebuilding efforts, thereby supporting an orderly transition from humanitarian response to recovery and development. This approach offers guidance on how health assets and infrastructure can be maintained for the continuity of essential services to affected and local communities. Moreover, it provides practical solutions for political institutions and functions, including governance and accountability, to oversee these transitions by averting a gap between humanitarian response and the broader financing and development agenda. It underscores that development gains with peace can co-benefit health systems to achieve UHC and health security.
"The benefits for investing in health during humanitarian response, recovery, development and peacebuilding are manifold. Such investments contribute to health systems resilience, thereby supporting health security and universal health coverage while advancing towards the Sustainable Development Goals," said Bruce Aylward, WHO Assistant Director-General, Universal Health Coverage, Life Course.
The framework targets countries with humanitarian contexts, ministries of health and other relevant ministries, national and subnational entities, regional political and economic communities, the WHO Secretariat, relevant donors and implementing agencies, and bilateral and multilateral partners engaged in humanitarian, development, peace and security. It also emphasizes collaboration with communities, civil society and the private sector.
This guidance is jointly published by the WHO Regional Office for Africa, the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, and the WHO Liaison Office to the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
