# Rethinking Human Resources for Health Planning in Labour Markets Disrupted by Conflict-Affected and Fragile Settings: Comment on "Human Resources for Health in Conflict Affected Settings: A Scoping Review of Primary Peer Reviewed Publications 2016–2022"

## TL;DR

This commentary discusses how health workforce planning should adapt in regions affected by conflict, suggesting new research approaches beyond traditional supply-demand models.

## Contribution

The paper introduces five research gap questions and advocates for politically informed, context-specific HRH research in conflict-affected settings.

## Key findings

- The WHO’s Health Labour Market framework may be insufficient for analyzing HRH in conflict-affected settings.
- HRH planning in CAS requires frameworks attuned to political economy and structural inequalities.
- Future research should adopt intersectional and context-specific approaches to inform HRH policies.

## Abstract

In a world still grappling with exploring the underlying dynamics of challenges confronting human resources for health (HRH), how must the HRH research and planning ensue in conflict-affected settings (CAS)? Onvlee and colleagues undertake a scoping review to respond to this important question, using the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Health Labour Market (HLM) framework, to leverage upon available evidence. This commentary appraises the conceptual and methodological contributions of the review, while questioning the suitability of HLM to analyse HRH challenges in disrupted health systems. It argues that CAS-specific HRH planning exacts frameworks and approaches more attuned to political economy, contextual fragility, and structural inequalities, which shape healthcare workers’ vulnerabilities and responses in CAS. The commentary identifies five gap questions for future scholarship, calling for intersectionality-driven, politically informed and context-specific research approaches for HRH evidence, transcending supply and demand framing of HRH, to inform HRH policies in conflict-affected and fragile settings.