Recognizing that "the usual Lancet Commission process is inadequate for the scale of this crisis", The Lancet-AUB Commission on Syria: Health in Conflict takes a slightly different approach to that of other Lancet Commissions in light of the urgency of the Syria question and the need for advocacy on priority issues.
While keeping a focus on the final report as its main output, the Commission has staggered a number of other outputs:
Comments, Perspectives and Correspondence
The following two Comments announcing the launch of the Commission and reporting on its launch/inaugural meeting (1-2 December 2016) appeared in The Lancet in December 2016:
Offline: Syria - ending the state of denialRichard Horton
The Lancet, Vol. 388, No. 10062, p2854
Published: 10 December 2016
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The Lancet–American University of Beirut Commission on Syria: a new role for global health in conflict and a call for papersSamer Jabbour, Jennifer Leaning, Iman Nuwayhid, Richard Horton, Pamela Das
The Lancet, Vol. 388, No. 10063, p2967–2968
Published: 17 December 2016
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Responding to the assault on Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, The Lancet published the following Comment on the situation there. The Comment is lead-authored by Commission Co-Chair Samer Jabbour with contributions of several Commissioners and others from multiple institutions and organizations:
Death and suffering in Eastern Ghouta, Syria: a call for action to protect civilians and health careSamer Jabbour, Fouad M Fouad, Jennifer Leaning, Donna McKay, Rabie Nasser, Leonard S Rubenstein, Annie Sparrow, Paul Spiegel, Ahmad Tarakji, Ronald Waldman, Rola Hallam, Denis Mukwege, Ghanem Tayara
The Lancet, Vol. 391, ISSUE 10123, P815-817
Published: 26 February 2018
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See Correspondence by Lawrence R. Stanberry (Columbia University) and colleagues endorsing this call and asking for more actions
Five actions to rescue children in Syria
Lawrence Raymond Stanberry; 72 signatories
The Lancet, Vol. 391, No. 10139, p2498–2499
Published: 21 June 2018
On the seventh anniversary of the conflict in Syria, The Lancet published a photoessay, which includes a critical introduction on the use of the images of war, developed collaboratively between the Lancet-AUB Commission on Syria and the Humans of Syria Network. Commission Co-Chair Samer Jabbour and researcher Ammar Sabouni contributed to the photoessay.
Rehumanising the Syrian conflict: photographs of war, health, and life in Syria
Samer Jabbour, Marvin Gate, Ammar Sabouni, Saeed al-Batal and Humans of Syria Network
The Lancet, Vol. 391, ISSUE 10126, P1140-1156
Published: 14 March 2018
The Lancet published a Correspondence reflecting on the deliberations of the high-level side event at the UN General Assembly organized by the Commission in September 2017. The letter is lead-authored by the Honorable G. Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Health of Canada. Co-authors include all the dignitaries and panelists who participated in/organized the side event including Commission Co-Chairs Iman Nuwayhid and Samer Jabbour.
Protecting health care in armed conflict: action towards accountability
Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Ildefonso Castro, Christiaan Rebergen, Matthew Rycroft, Iman Nuwayhid, Leonard Rubenstein, Ahmad Tarakji, Naz Modirzadeh, Homer Venters, Samer Jabbour
The Lancet, Vol. 391, ISSUE 10129, P1477-1478
Published: 14 April 2018
With the assault on health care in northwest Syria, the following Comment demanding action to stop attacks on health care and violations of international law was published in The Lancet. Several Commissioners contributed to the Comment.
International failure in northwest Syria: humanitarian health catastrophe demands action
Miriam Orcutt, Diana Rayes, Ahmad Tarakji, Mohamad Katoub, Paul Spiegel, Leonard Rubenstein, Samer Jabbour, Munzer Alkhalil, Mohammad Alabbas, Aula Abbara
The Lancet, Vol. 394, No. 10193, p100–103
Published: 04 July 2019
On the tenth anniversary of the start of the Syrian conflict,
The Lancet published a Comment authored by all Commissioners focusing on key health and humanitarian consequences after a decade of conflict and urging action to address these consequences.
10 years of the Syrian conflict: a time to act and not merely to remember
Samer Jabbour, Jennifer Leaning, Iman Nuwayhid, Alastair Ager, Melani Cammett, Omar Dewachi, Fouad M Fouad, Rita Giacaman, Debarati Guha Sapir, Ghassan Hage, Ziad Majed, Rabie Nasser, Annie Sparrow, Paul Spiegel, Ahmad Tarakji, Sarah Leah Whitson, Nasser Yassin
The Lancet, Published Online March 12, 2021
Research
On 14 March 2017, The Lancet-AUB Commission on Syria published its first major output, a Health Policy paper in The Lancet, accompanied by an Editorial and a Comment, and received wide international media coverage.
HEALTH POLICY | Health workers and the weaponisation of health care in Syria: a preliminary inquiry for The Lancet–American University of Beirut Commission on SyriaFouad M Fouad, Annie Sparrow, Ahmad Tarakji, Mohamad Alameddine, Fadi El-Jardali, Adam P Coutts, Nour El Arnaout, Lama Bou Karroum, Mohammed Jawad, Sophie Roborgh, Aula Abbara, Fadi Alhalabi, Ibrahim AlMasri, Samer Jabbour
The Lancet. Vol. 390, ISSUE 10111, P2516-2526
Published: 14 March 2017
Full-text access, Lancet Editorial, Infographic, Media Coverage, and more...
The following scoping review was initiated simultaneously with the above Health Policy paper to generate evidence on the situation of health workers in Syria and other 'Arab Spring' countries. Commissioner Fouad M. Fouad is a co-author
REVIEW | Health Care Workers in the setting of the "Arab Spring": a scoping review for the Lancet-AUB Commission on SyriaLama Bou-Karroum, Karim N Daou, Mohamed Nomier, Nour El Arnaout, Fouad M Fouad, Fadi El-Jardali, and Elie A Akl
Journal of Global Health. 2019; 9: 010402
Published: 29 October 2018
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Supplementary Material
Commissioner Francesco Checchi and fellow researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine publish the following original research paper in support of the Commission's Thematic Group E, which is led by Professor Checchi
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH | Localisation and cross-border assistance to deliver humanitarian health services in North-West Syria: a qualitative inquiry for The Lancet-AUB Commission on Syria
Diane Duclos, Abdulkarim Ekzayez, Fatima Ghaddar, Francesco Checchi and Karl Blanchet
Conflict and Health. 13, Article number: 20 (2019)
Published: 27 May 2019
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PDFThe Commission's former researcher, Rima Abdul-Khalek, and former research fellow, Mohammed Jawad, are the lead and last authors, respectively, of a research study comparing the health literature on Syria prior to and after the onset of conflict
REVIEW | Health-related articles on Syria before and after the start of armed conflict: a scoping review for The Lancet-American University of Beirut Commission on Syria Rima A Abdul-Khalek; Walaa Kayyal; Abdul Rahman Akkawi; Mohamad Almalla; Khurram Arif; Lama Bou-Karroum; Amena El-Harakeh; Manal Elzalabany; Racha Fadlallah; Fatima Ghaddar; Danna Kashlan; Sara Kassas; Tania Khater; Nisreen Mobayed; Dalal Rahme; Omran Saifi; Samer Jabbour; Fadi El-Jardali; Elie A Akl; Mohammed Jawad
Conflict and Health. 14, Article number: 73 (2020)
Published: 05 November 2020
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Commission Co-Chair Samer Jabbour and former Commission Research Fellow Nasser Fardousi examine the thorny issue of violence against healthcare in Syria
REVIEW | Violence against health care in Syria: patterns, meanings, implications
Samer Jabbour and Nasser Fardousi
British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies
Published online: 29 Jul 2021
Commission Deputy Project Lead Marian Abouzeid leads a deep-dive study of research focusing on health inside Syria which has received far less attention than health of refugees
REVIEW | Conflict-related health research in Syria, 2011-2019: A scoping review for The Lancet - AUB Commission on Syria
Marian Abouzeid, Manal K. Elzalabany, Iman Nuwayhid, Samer Jabbour
Conflict and Health
Forthcoming
Global Advocacy / Policy Dialogues
Considering the urgency of the issues that the Commission is examining, the Commission has paritcipated in or organized policy discussions at important policy/political meetings and produced relevant material. The following high-level event organized by the Commission is highlighted:
September 2017: The Commission organizes, in partnership with Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition, a High-Level Side Event on '
Protecting Health Care in Armed Conflict' during the 72nd UN General Assembly at UN Headquarters (ECOSOC Chamber). Canada's Minister of Health, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain, Vice Minister of International Development of the Netherlands, and Ambassador/Permanent Representative of the UK to the United Nations open the event.
Knowledge resources
The Commission has developed, or is in the process of developing, several knowledge resources on various topics related to health and the Syrian conflict or on war/conflict and health more boradly
- The Knowledge Resource Portat on Protecting Healthcare in Conflict provides a one-stop shop for accessing resources related to attacks on, and approaches to protecting, healthcare during conflict
- The Syria Health Resource Portal, a comprehensive resource largely focused on health during the decade of conflict, will be launched in early 2022
A decade of conflict report
The Commission is working on a major report that applies a health lens analysis to a decade of the conflict in Syria. The report will be published in The Lancet and launched globally in 2022.
Related Lancet publications
Check out The
Lancet Syria Commission webpage for links to various Syria-related editorials, comments and research.