Paying Attention – and Respect – to the Agency of Conflict-Affected Health Workers; Comment on “Human Resources for Health in Conflict Affected Settings: A Scoping Review of Primary Peer Reviewed Publications 2016–2022”

Document Type : Commentary

Author

Institute for Law, Politics and Development (DIRPOLIS), Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy

Abstract

The review stands out for its methodological rigour, clear results, and frank recognition of its limitations. However, the picture proposed by it is incomplete. Two aspects of great consequence are discussed in this commentary as a complement to the review. First, the political agency of human resources for health (HRHs) must always be considered. Among them, many take sides in a variety of roles, overt or not, as militants, activists, supporters, and researchers. Second, without including the informal practices adopted by HRH to survive and deliver in hostile environments, the health labour market cannot be understood. Arguably, these two key dimensions were not prominent in the review because the HRH literature prefers to focus on formal technical aspects easier to study and more likely to be published. Some of the reasons behind their neglect are suggested by this commentary, which concludes with a few remarks about how this drawback might be corrected.

Keywords

References

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History

  • Received Date: 05 November 2025
  • Revised Date: 07 January 2026
  • Accepted Date: 07 January 2026
  • First Published Date: 15 February 2026
  • Published Date: 01 December 2026

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