Summary

On March 22, 2007, the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH) Task Force on Public Health and Conflict held its third symposium, Iraq: Rebuilding a Nation’s Health. The Task Force is committed to raising the profile of conflict analysis and resolution in the field of public health education. The speakers at this event included Dr. Robert Lawrence, professor of Environmental Sciences and professor of Health Policy and Management at JHPSH; Dr. Gilbert Burnham, professor and co-director of the Center for Refugee and Disaster Response at JHSPH; Jeff Helsing, deputy director of the Education Program at USIP; His Excellency Ambassador Feisal Al Istrabadi, Iraq’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations; His Royal Highness Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al Hussein, Jordan’s ambassador to the United States; Dr. Sarmad S. Khunda, dean of the University of Baghdad School of Medicine; Commander David Tarantino, director of Medical Stability Operations and International Health Affairs at the Office of the Secretary of Defense; Dr. A. Hadi Khalili, Former head of the Iraqi Board of Neurosurgery; and Dr. Abdullah Salem, a current student at JHSPH who studied medicine in Baghdad. This USIPeace Briefing summarizes the symposium’s discussion on public health and conflict in Iraq.

About the Authors

This USIPeace Briefing was written by Sarah Dye, a research assistant, and Linda Bishai, a senior program officer, both in the Education program at USIP.