Conference: Health as a peace dividend
Introduction
15-16 December 2011 the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), together with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and with the generous support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, hosted a conference to discuss the policy implications of the research findings of the SIPRI Global Health and Security Programme’s interdisciplinary expert task force, which had carried out research during a 6-month period, and to find new follow-on research ideas for the first half of 2012.
The conference was an opportunity for the expert task force to present research findings to the Programme’s Senior Consultative Group and to discuss innovative policy thinking to promote health as a central component in sustainable development, stability and state building, especially in fragile and low-income regions and countries.
Objective
The principal objective of the first session of the conference was for the expert task force to present its research reports on health in fragile states to its peers and to the Senior Consultative Group for a general discussion of its findings.
The second session focused on discussing the policy implications of the research findings and conclusions. The presence of the Senior Consultative Group allowed for an exchange between the researchers and the experts on how the research findings could contribute to developing informed policy and how such policy may be presented. This entailed developing the proper policy context for health in fragile (and developing) states and identifying the policy target groups in Europe and how best to approach them.
The objective of the third session was to find follow-on or novel research ideas for a new round of papers to be commissioned by the SIPRI Global Health and Security Programme in the first half of 2012. Discussions among the experts and lead investigators of the research on health in fragile states should explore how health can be perceived as a peace dividend and should continue to build on the March 2011 conference discussions on gaps in knowledge.
Format
In the first session, 30-minute presentations of research and research findings were followed by 15 minutes of discussion. The second session consisted of informed policy discussions, introduced by Ambassador Anders Nordström, chair of the Senior Consultative Group. The first session concentrated on follow-on research activities on health as a peace dividend, which was discussed in separate groups that were followed by plenary presentations and discussion of the research activities.
