Egbert Sondorp MD MPH

Senior Lecturer in Public Health & Humanitarian Aid

Room 135, Keppel St, London WC1E 7HT, UK

Tel: +44 (0)20 7612 7883

Fax: +44 (0)20 7637 5391

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Affiliated to: GHD.

Disciplines: Medicine, Operational research, Policy analysis.

Research areas: Conflict, Health policy, Health sector development, Health systems, Primary care.

Other keywords: humanitarian aid, post conflict reconstruction, fragile states, MARCH.

Background

From its inception in 1999, the Conflict and Health Programme (C&H) focussed on the evidence base of humanitarian aid and post-conflict health reconstruction. In recent years, its remit has widened to encompass a broad range of issues related to health and fragile states. The key objective of the C&H Programme is to study health system strengthening in conflict, post-conflict and other fragile settings. This includes how to finance and structure health services, as well as how to overcome the constraints posed by poor governance. The C&H Programme has extensive knowledge of health reconstruction in all major post-conflict settings of the last two decades, including recent field based research in countires like Afghanistan, Sudan and Liberia.

The C&H Programme takes a multi-disciplinary approach, drawing upon the fields of health policy and finance, epidemiology, control of infectious diseases, mental health, peace-building and international relations. It collaborates with a range of practitioners, including NGOs, UN agencies, and various ministries of health

Teaching

Conflict and Health Module (5 weeks)

Various advanced short courses related to complex emergencies, including mental health and infectious diseases

Research

The Evidence-Based Humanitarian Aid Research Program (Jan. 2000 - Jan. 2004), funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is a partnership project between the LSHTM and Merlin, a leading British humanitarian health agency . The initiative seeks to examine current public health practice in emergencies, extend the evidence base upon which public health responses to humanitarian emergencies is built, and develop improved methods of appropriate response. The program focuses on the evidence regarding public health practice in emergencies and works towards deriving good practice and effective mechanisms of implementing these through linking academic and NGO practitioners. Areas of emphasis are impact of conflict on health systems and burden of disease. Research also focuses on the planning and policy-making challenges facing post-conflict countries. The program seeks to build upon the emergence of key lessons, such as the need to facilitate a process through which an over-arching policy framework is established for the health sector, and to identify tools and good practice guidelines that can be used as inputs to such processes. The work highlights critical issues such as the importance of equity in emerging health systems, and the value of identifying opportunities in the post-conflict setting to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the health system being established. We are also concerned to understand the extent to which health-related activities can (or fail to) contribute to peace-building in conflict-affected societies.

Selected publications

Palmer, N.; Strong, L.; Wali, A.; Sondorp, E.; Contracting out health services in fragile states. BMJ, 2006; 332(7543):718-21
Roberts, B.; Ocaka, K.F.; Browne, J.; Oyok, T.; Sondorp, E.; Factors associated with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression amongst internally displaced persons in northern Uganda. BMC Psychiatry, 2008; 8:38
Sondorp, E.; Bornemisza, O.; Public health, emergencies and the humanitarian impulse. Bull World Health Organ, 2005; 83(3):163-163a
Chan, E.Y.; Sondorp, E.; Medical interventions following natural disasters: missing out on chronic medical needs. Asia Pac J Public Health, 2007; 19 Spec No:45-51
Sondorp, E.; A new tool for measuring the brutality of war. PLoS Med, 2008; 5(12):e249
Roberts, B.; Guy, S.; Sondorp, E.; Lee-Jones, L.; A basic package of health services for post-conflict countries: implications for sexual and reproductive health services. Reprod Health Matters, 2008; 16(31):57-64
Bloom, J.D.; Sambunjak, D.; Sondorp, E.; High-impact medical journals and peace: a history of involvement. J Public Health Policy, 2007; 28(3):341-55
Morgan, O.W.; Sribanditmongkol, P.; Perera, C.; Sulasmi, Y.; Alphen, D.V.; Sondorp, E.; Mass Fatality Management following the South Asian Tsunami Disaster: Case Studies in Thailand, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. PLoS Med, 2006; 3(6):e195

Full publications listing (since 2001)