The Lancet  
Feb 01, 2014  Volume 383  Number 9915   p383 – 486  e9 – 10
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/issue/current

Series
Health in the Arab world: a view from within
Changing therapeutic geographies of the Iraqi and Syrian wars
Omar Dewachi, Mac Skelton, Vinh-Kim Nguyen, Fouad M Fouad, Ghassan Abu Sitta, Zeina Maasri, Rita Giacaman
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The health consequences of the ongoing US-led war on terror and civil armed conflicts in the Arab world are much more than the collateral damage inflicted on civilians, infrastructure, environment, and health systems. Protracted war and armed conflicts have displaced populations and led to lasting transformations in health and health care. In this report, we analyse the effects of conflicts in Iraq and Syria to show how wars and conflicts have resulted in both the militarisation and regionalisation of health care, conditions that complicate the rebuilding of previously robust national health-care systems.

Health and ecological sustainability in the Arab world: a matter of survival
Abbas El-Zein, Samer Jabbour, Belgin Tekce, Huda Zurayk, Iman Nuwayhid, Marwan Khawaja, Tariq Tell, Yusuf Al Mooji, Jocelyn De-Jong, Nasser Yassin, Dennis Hogan
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Discussions leading to the Rio+20 UN conference have emphasised the importance of sustainable development and the protection of the environment for future generations. The Arab world faces large-scale threats to its sustainable development and, most of all, to the viability and existence of the ecological systems for its human settlements. The dynamics of population change, ecological degradation, and resource scarcity, and development policies and practices, all occurring in complex and highly unstable geopolitical and economic environments, are fostering the poor prospects.

Viewpoint
Health and contemporary change in the Arab world
Samer Jabbour
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In the past 10 years, but especially since the desperate act by Mohamed Bouazizi (a 26-year-old street vendor who set himself on fire on Dec 17, 2010, in protest against the confiscation of his cart and his humiliation by police) sparked popular uprisings in Tunisia that toppled President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January, 2011, huge ongoing changes have gripped several countries in the Arab world and affected almost all others. From the invasion and occupation of Iraq to the empowerment of previously silenced masses (claiming new spaces for dissent, toppling presidents, and redrafting constitutions), the separation of South Sudan, and persistent insecurities and violence in some countries, these changes affect every domain of social life and have important effects on health.

Essay
State formation and underdevelopment in the Arab world
Tariq Tell
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A revisionist view of Arab underdevelopment has gained popularity because of the hegemony of neoliberal beliefs over development policy in the region. It stresses the inadequacies of the Arab state and the shortcomings of the dirigiste (state-led) development policies associated with so-called Arab socialism, and was given popular support by President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt who dominated the politics of the Arab world from 1952 to 1970.1,2 Little effort has been made to understand the historical forces that produced this turn to the state, and an internalist explanation of the lack of Arab progress is offered instead.

Importance of research networks: the Reproductive Health Working Group, Arab world and Turkey
Rita Giacaman, Asya Al-Ryami, Hyam Bashour, Jocelyn DeJong, Noha Gaballah, Atf Gherissi, Belgin Tekce, Huda Zurayk
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A meeting of the Reproductive Health Working Group’s Consultative Committee was due to take place at the Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, on June 17–18, 2013. This Committee plans the activities of the Reproductive Health Working Group, Arab World and Turkey, a 25-year-old capacity-building research network for the Arab countries and Turkey. The Consultative Committee members are based in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, occupied Palestinian territory, Syria, Tunisia, and Turkey, where, with the exception of Oman, conflicts, wars, military occupation, insecurity, and uncertainty seem to be the norm these days.