Conflict of any type is generally bad in nature. A conflict of any sort is able to impact many aspects of human life, with a major and lesser known impact on the health of men, women, and children. One of the most prevalent types of conflict is those of armed conflicts (war between countries). In 2017, a staggering 36 million children and 16 million women were displaced due to armed conflicts (NIH, 2021). When women and children are displaced, they are not only effected emotional and physically, but also their health suffers as a consequence. There armed conflicts can cause a food shortage, water shortage, shortage of medical care, and more. This in turn directly impacts women and children, leading to malnutrition, infectious diseases, and poor sexual and reproductive health (NIH, 2021). There is also an increase in the prevalence of anxiety disorders, PTSD, and depression among these groups (NIH, 2021). The health effects do not stop there though, as children’s mortality risk from non-violent causes increases drastically in response to living near armed conflict zones (NIH, 2021). A substantial 10 million children deaths (those younger than 5 years old) can be attributed to conflict between 1995 and 2015 (NIH, 2021). The effects of conflict on health is not biased in which gender it affects. There is a drastic increase in men’s mortality and mortality risk during times of conflict (Hassink, 2013). In men’s mental health there are increases in PTSD, depression, and violence after times of conflict (Hassink, 2013). In order for conflicts to have a lesser affect on the health of men, women, and children, there needs to be more post conflict policies (Hassink, 2013). These policies would take into account the type of conflict the population is experiencing and plan accordingly for their health (Hassink, 2013).

Resources 

Bendavid, E., Boerma, T., Akseer, N., Langer, A., Malembaka, E. B., Okiro, E. A., Wise, P. H., Heft-Neal, S., Black, R. E., Bhutta, Z. A., & BRANCH Consortium Steering Committee (2021). The effects of armed conflict on the health of women and children. Lancet (London, England), 397(10273), 522s2. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00131-

The other side of gender. United States Institute of Peace. (2013, December 12). https://www.usip.org/publications/2013/12/other-si…