The role of health professionals in preventing and mediating conflict

Since the early 1980s academics, governmental and non-governmental organisations have undertaken field projects inspired by the Peace through Health and similar concepts formulated by the World Health Organisation and the Department of Peace Studies at McMaster University, Canada. These have been criticised for lack of proper evaluation, the appropriateness of the skills of health workers involved, and the overall usefulness of the approach. This article, based on a literature review, compares existing evidence with the theoretical framework. There is still a lack of systematic evaluation, but no direct disproof of Peace through Health theory. It is concluded that the Peace through Health approach can have a positive impact on healing and reconciliation on a community scale, but there is no evidence of a peace impact on a larger scale.