title: The life course model as a framework for post-conflict health analysis: reflections on the Gulf War critical period.
abstract: In the Kuwait context, from January 1991 to December 1991, there were a series of chemical and psychological Gulf War-era exposures that left persistent, long-term damage. Extreme stress from a critical event speeds up the usual disease latency period, and may be part of a synergistic effect that leads to higher disease rates over a shorter period of time. I am interested in the impact of armed conflict on health outcomes over the life course in Kuwait, and particularly the pathways through which armed conflict causes changes in health on a population level. In this paper, I propose a culturally sensitive, post-conflict socio-ecological model that informs a three-pronged health study. I propose a macro-micro mix that includes an ecological study, a case-control study and a qualitative study to investigate Kuwait's post-conflict health concerns. Thus, I revise the concept of 'post-conflict health' as a trajectory that is mediated through different, complex social levels and develops over time during the latency period. The main advantage of a macro-micro mix approach for post-conflict health is that it contextualizes the Gulf War as an environmental health issue.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Health Sciences , The City University of New York , New York , NY , USA.|b The Graduate School, University of Washington , Seattle , WA , USA.
authors.forename: Charles W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Cange
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D047830:Gulf War; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007730:Kuwait; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014857:Warfare
keywords: The Gulf War; chemical exposures; child development; life course approach; post-conflict health; sensitive periods