My thematic analysis reviews both state-run biomedical health systems and traditional health systems in current attempts of pluralistic state health systems in Africa. I aim to resolve the co-occurring issues of human resource shortages and herb scarcity in each system by forwarding the syncretic health model with an intercultural approach to frame policy solutions for health systems in Africa. Previous studies share that around half (48%) of the population in Africa receives health care from urban state run Western biomedical health systems. Most (80%) of the population uses a combination, or relies solely on, local traditional health practitioners and herbal medicines. Some of Africa is at critical staffing levels due to the human resource shortage and the herb scarcity affects the ability of traditional healers to create medicine to treat illness. By comparing the pluralist and syncretic health systems models I ask, (1) Could the syncretic health systems model with the intercultural approach incorporate traditional health systems into the state health systems of Africa?, and (2) Does this solution assist with the global human resource shortage and ecological crises of herb scarcity? Key findings are the areas of symmetry and representatives of staked interests in the syncretic model that forward a bottom-up policy platform for system reform. Sustainable health development becomes imperative as human resource shortages, herb scarcity, and pandemics coalesce in states lacking a well equipped and well-resourced state health system.

The aim of this study is to explore the existing barriers for access to basic obstetrics services that resulted in poor maternal health outcome in conflict affected areas.

Institution based qualitative cross-sectional study was undertaken in Ethiopia. The population for the study were comprised of all purposefully selected woman and families coming referred from conflict affected areas to tertiary hospitals. A total of 20 in-depth interviewees were conducted. The unstructured key informant interview (KII) guide was used to collect data to gain an in-depth understanding of the context in which continuum of care for maternal health care takes place.

The major reasons for poor maternal health outcome were categorized under three main themes: access to the health facilities; the direct effect of war, conflict and displacement on the women physical and mental health; healthcare system related reasons. Women who presented to the tertiary hospital don’t have safe road/transportation(ambulance) access to get to the proper health facilities. This resulted many women to reach to the facility with a critical and irreversible complications from preventable maternal health conditions. Many reached the facility many months after initial referral because of the political instability.

The war, displacement and conflict has resulted in increased gender-based violence in their community. This in turn was associated with increased unplanned pregnancy, complicated genital tract infections and HIV.

The war and conflict had also targeted many of the primary health care facilities in the community and resulted in destructions. This has led many women not to get access to the primary essential maternal health care services.

Healthcare for women in conflict-prone areas requires critical attention and should be given priority during the conflict. More large-scale studies are needed to fully understand and reduce the impact of conflict on maternal health care and look for possible solutions in tackling such challenges.

The concept of adaptive preferences (AP) has been reimagined in diverse ways as a useful tool in the understanding of various forms of oppression, focusing on their root causes. This re-imagination has benefits that transcend the understanding of the concept itself, informing the development of interventions for mitigating the root causes of oppression. This paper tracks debates on AP with agency, autonomy, and rationality of adaptive preference agents. It argues for the use of Cudd’s reimagined understanding of adaptive preferences and makes the case that using this understanding is unique and important for understanding survivors of sexual violence. It argues that the reimagined frame of AP provides new opportunities for survivors of sexual violence to be understood positively as rational and autonomous individuals with agency. The reframing of the AP concept also helps to refocus attention on the root causes of sexual violence, exposing the complexities that these survivors have to navigate to cope. Lastly, the frame provides a more accurate backdrop from which sexual violence interventions can be developed. The paper concludes that, though controversial, the concept of AP provides a useful tool for understanding social problems like sexual violence.

Achieving the maternal and child health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires meaningful collaboration between different sectors. Community health workers (CHWs) are uniquely positioned within their communities to act as an intersectoral bridge and catalyst for collaborative efforts to improve maternal and child health. While CHWs are widely recognized as crucial actors in the health workforce, especially when state capacity is stretched thin, a need exists to critically examine the strategies they employ to facilitate intersectoral collaboration and improve maternal and child health, with an eye to informing the expansion of these programs across resource-constrained contexts. A case study was conducted in partnership with Philippines-based, non-governmental organization International Care Ministries and embedded within their ‘Community Health Champions’ (CHW) program. In April 2023, CHWs from six locations in Negros Oriental, Philippines were recruited for 11 participatory focus groups (n=75 CHWs) and 64 semi-structured interviews. Data collection focused on strategies used by CHWs to collaborate across sectors to improve maternal and child health. Qualitative data were thematically analyzed using a hybrid inductive-deductive approach. CHWs facilitated linkages between communities, non-governmental organizations, and the local public health system vis-à-vis working alongside public sector healthcare workers to identify individuals in need of support and to provide treatment or referral to formal care. This collaboration enabled a continuity of care, with CHWs viewing their role as addressing existing gaps within the public sector. Critically, CHWs' positionality and social networks held within communities shaped the degree and quality of intersectoral collaboration. Meeting the maternal and child health-related SDGs across resource-constrained settings demands intersectoral collaboration. This study highlights strategies used by CHWs as they embody and embed intersectoral collaboration in their efforts to enhance maternal and child health in the Philippines. Opportunities exist to further amplify these efforts and support CHWs to act as a bridge across sectors.