The “Arab World” is not a useful concept when addressing challenges to public health, public health education, and research in the Middle East

Abstract

Introduction: Interest in public health in the “Arab World” has intensified following the political and social changes that have affected the Middle East since 2010. A new textbook has been published (1), an international meeting has been held (2), a network of experts has been formed, and a special edition of major medical journal has been published (3). But how useful is the “Arab World” as a way of defining a geographical region in order to focus attention on the health challenges that it faces and in particular the challenges relating to public health research and education. In this brief essay, the authors argue that its usefulness is limited because the countries of the Arab World, however defined, are too heterogeneous to allow meaningful communal debate of their problems and solutions. As an alternative it is recommended that countries in the region form smaller more homogenous issue-specific groupings to discuss common challenges and action.