A Healthcare Bridge over Troubled Conflicts: A New Model for Building Trust through Joint Healthcare Programs

Fighting diseases and death - common enemies - creates a unique opportunity to drive collaboration, build trust, and foster peace-building between groups in conflict. However, not all health programs are equally effective in promoting trust. This study develops the first systematic approach to building trust between conflict groups through healthcare. It proposes a novel qualitative and quantitative methodology to evaluate the trust-building potential of cross-national healthcare programs based on an analysis of Israeli-Palestinian joint medical programs. In addition, it provides specific recommendations for how global and regional stakeholders can maximize the impact of building trust through healthcare.