Humanitarian Ground Rounds

Please join us for a moderated discussion with Dr. Yara M. Asi

Dr. Yara M. Asi is an Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida in the School of Global Health Management and Informatics. Her research agenda focuses on global health, human rights, and development in fragile populations. She is a Non-resident Fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC, a 2020-2021 Fulbright US Scholar to the West Bank, and the Fall 2021 US Fellow at Al Shabaka Policy Network. Along with working at one of the first accountable care organizations in the United States, she has also worked with Médecins Sans Frontières, Amnesty International USA, and the Palestinian American Research Center on policy and outreach issues.

In How War Kills, Yara M. Asi exposes the devastating repercussions of war that extend far beyond the battlefield. By tracing the trajectory of violence throughout history, with a focus on contemporary conflicts, Asi argues that war has been overlooked from a public health perspective. From the breakdown of sanitation and other vital infrastructure to the scarcity of essential resources, war creates a perilous environment ripe for disease outbreaks and widespread suffering far beyond the reach of bullets and bombs. She also challenges the reactive nature of current humanitarian responses and calls for more proactive measures to prevent the catastrophic consequences of war and militarism.

Drawing on data and stories from around the world, Asi breaks down the complex mechanics of war and how they impact human security. War is not an inevitable part of the human condition but is rather a global health crisis in dire need of intervention.