Health research in the MENA region needs urgent attention to meet the rising health and economic challenges, including those related to protracted conflicts. Health research in the MENA region struggles at various levels with cultural, financial and technical challenges and has a dearth of multidisciplinary approaches and evidence-based health policies. Such barriers can be mitigated by long-term and contextualised support via international and regional partnerships, enhanced intersectoral communication and political will.

Nassim El Achi is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Conflict Medicine Program of the Global Health Institute of the American University of Beirut (GHI-AUB) in lebanon. She is working on capacity strengthening of health research and health systems in conflict settings as part of the Research for Health in Conflict (RH4C-MENA) project.