Women's health issues, their background factors and possible interventions in post-conflict developing countries.

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The objectives of the research are to analyze impacts of conflicts on women's health in developing countries, to identify background factors, and to propose possible interventions. Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC), and Sri Lanka were main research targets, and the situations of Afghanistan, Palestine and Myanmar were also examined.In Cambodia, poverty and family conditions, as well as difficult experience during the conflicts, had strong impacts on women's health. Mental health issues mostly remained without any interventions. Women's current situations varied according to their educational levels, native places, etc., even though the women had gone through similar hardships. Widowed or separated women and the hardly-educated urban poor were particularly in difficult conditions. Along with reconstruction and development, new issues arose : i.e., widening gaps between the rich and the poor and newly emerging diseases such as HIV. It is important to develop long term strategie … More s for post-conflict reconstruction.Due to the travel ban to DRC, we collected information in neighboring Kenya. Militias were still active in eastern areas, and severe sexual and physical violence against women, regardless of their age and ethnicity, was rampant.Sri Lanka had achieved a certain level of social development, and women's health and social status were relatively good. However, health situations in northeastern areas were deteriorated because of conflicts. Health facilities were destroyed and health professionals were seriously in shortage. Women, particularly those living in camps of internally displaced people, often suffered from mental health problems and violence.Conflicts have various impacts on women's health according to the nature of conflicts, the level of social development before conflicts, cultural background, international assistance and situation of surrounding countries, progress of economic development, etc. It is needed to make effective interventions on mental health of women, as well as reproductive health and violence against women. Less