Global Health Action

Resilience in the Aftermath of Crises: Health Systems, Communities, and Global Health Equity

Background

Across the globe, populations continue to face converging and protracted crises - armed conflicts, epidemics, climate disasters, and economic shocks. Each of these events leaves indelible marks on countries’ health systems, socio-economic fabric, and population well-being. While the immediate impacts of such crises have been widely documented, the long-term aftermaths - particularly on health systems, mental health, community resilience, and global health equity - remain comparatively underexplored.

This Call for Papers builds on emerging conceptual work on the “afterlives of crises” and post-crisis temporality, highlighting how crises do not simply end but continue to shape institutions, infrastructures, and lived experiences long after the acute emergency phase has subsided. By focusing on the aftermath rather than the event itself, we aim to foreground processes of recovery, adaptation, structural persistence, and transformation. The compounded effects of climate-related disasters, the lingering societal and health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a rapidly shifting global aid and funding landscape have exposed deep vulnerabilities in health systems - particularly in low- and middle-income countries. In the aftermath of such crises, there is an urgent need to document what has been learned, how communities have adapted, and which strategies have supported recovery and resilience. As the world continues to face intersecting threats, generating and sharing evidence on building equitable and resilient health systems has never been more timely.

This open Call for Papers in Global Health Action invites contributions that explore post-crisis health landscapes, with a focus on resilience, equity, and recovery across diverse global settings. We welcome research from low-, middle-, and high-income countries that sheds light on lessons learned, structural barriers, community-led innovations, policy solutions, and new theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding recovery in a globalised world.

Scope and Themes

This call for papers seeks to showcase original research, reviews, and policy-relevant insights on the following themes (but not limited to):

• Health Systems Resilience and Recovery
  • Strengths and gaps in rebuilding health systems after conflict, epidemics, or disasters
  • Innovations in primary care delivery in disrupted settings
  • Workforce capacity, financing, and service delivery post-crisis
• Human Resources for Health
  • Training, task-shifting, and retention of healthcare workers during/after crises
  • Diaspora engagement and knowledge transfer in health system rebuilding
• Mental Health and Psychosocial Impacts
  • Long-term mental health outcomes of affected populations
  • Community-based or culturally grounded approaches to healing and resilience
  • Integration of mental health into post-crisis recovery
• Gender, Vulnerability, and Inequities
  • Disproportionate impacts on women, children, older adults, migrants, and people with disabilities
  • Intersectional approaches to addressing structural vulnerabilities
• Community-Based Responses and Social Networks
  • Role of local knowledge, informal care systems, and grassroots and civil society-led recovery efforts
  • Trust-building and social cohesion in fragile settings
  • Adaptive social protection systems during and after crises
• Global Health Equity and Partnerships
  • The role of international aid and development partnerships in long-term recovery
  • Governance, localisation, and shifting power relations in crisis-affected settings
  • Critical reflections on power, solidarity, knowledge production, and decolonising approaches to global health collaboration
• Climate and Environmental Disasters
  • Health system and community responses to climate shocks and environmental degradation
  • Food and water insecurity
  • Preparedness and adaptation strategies in fragile contexts
• Data Systems and Evidence Generation in Crisis Contexts
  • Strengthening health information systems post-crisis
  • Lessons from HDSS, surveillance, and mobile data platforms
  • Ethical challenges of conducting research in fragile settings
• Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure
  • Expanding resilience beyond health systems to include civil, urban, and transport infrastructure designed with disaster preparedness and health protection in mind
  • Integration of crisis mitigation and health safeguards into infrastructure planning within increasingly globalised and interconnected contexts
  • The role of transport and cross-border infrastructure in disease surveillance, containment, and global health security