Inaugural Lecture – Professor Fouad Fouad

Health Systems in Limited Statehood Areas: Stretching the Boundaries of Health Governance

In his inaugural lecture, Professor Fouad M. Fouad explored how our understanding of statehood has shifted in recent decades, with many contexts challenging the conventional model of the modern sovereign state. He reflected on how conflict has created regions of limited statehood, where state capacity and presence are weakened and the delivery of services to displaced populations becomes increasingly fragile. He pointed to places including northwest Syria, Gaza and Myanmar, where de facto authorities may control large areas and vulnerable people, including internally displaced people, can become trapped within these settings.

He argued that the traditional design of health services and health systems, which assumes an effective, centralised government, does not hold in contexts like these.