Peace, Health, and Sustainable Development in the Middle East

As two essential human rights, as well as pillars of sustainabledevelopment, health and peace are closely interrelated. Further,health and well-being is the focus of sustainable developmentgoal (SDG) 3, while peace lies at the heart of SDG 16. This paperinvestigates the relationship between the three concepts: health,peace and sustainable development in the relevant literature. Lackof peace can have direct and indirect impact on health, as well ashealth workers, the civil society, and the whole community whohave a role in creating peace. Strong and resilient health systemsare essential to reach out citizens during war, while achievingSDGs would be impossible if SDG 16 is compromised. Onecannot have peace with- out health, or health without peace.Armed conflict is one of the biggest challenges facing humanity,which can directly and indirectly affect health and lead to deathand injury, the breakdown and reduced access to health systems,the increase incidence of communicable diseases, reduced waterand sanitation and disease prevention, psychosocial effects, andmalnutrition. The role of physicians and other health workers inthe preservation and promotion of peace is the most significantfactor for the attainment of health for all. In the absence of peace,the resilience of health system will be threated and the hope forsustainable development may fade. We will bring variousexamples from the Middle East, i.e. Yemen and Syria, toexemplify the magnitude of lack of peace on health andsustainable development, ultimately.