It is now a well-accepted presumption that war causes grave harm to the health of individuals caught in the maelstrom of violence. Death, mutilation, disease in addition to the destruction of governmental infrastructure complicate any post-conflict recovery plan that ultimately seeks to foster lasting peace, the rule of law and a culture of human rights. Indeed, since health is a state of being possessed by the people that ‘operationalize’ the collective norms of their community (both local and national) then it logically follows that their well-being is a prerequisite to a functioning and healthy society. Thus, public health policy should be a central concern of all post-conflict recovery activities.

Yet it is only in the last decade that those working in this field have begun to not only prioritize health of local populations as central components to post-conflict recovery. This shift in focus has brought into focus the critical question: What should health programming ‘look like’ in post conflict recovery? Certainly, peace time health approaches often fall woefully short of what is needed for war affected populations. This situation demands new approaches to health care for the extraordinary demands of conflict recovery.