Fragility, Health and the Risk Paradigm: A Health‐Sensitive Framework

Hannah Vaughan‐Lee, Lezlie C. Morinière and Nancy Stroupe

International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 2025, vol. 40, issue 2, 322-334

Abstract: Recognising that fragile contexts present a significant challenge to the Sustainable Development Goals, this paper examines the relationship between fragility and health, proposing a health‐sensitive conceptual framework for understanding the impact of fragility on health outcomes. Through a comprehensive literature review and comparison of existing fragility frameworks, the study identifies five key characteristics of fragility: alignment with the risk paradigm; multidimensionality; systems perspective; state‐society relationship; and appreciating fragility in relation to ‘contexts’ rather than ‘states’. In doing so, the paper highlights the need for a multidimensional approach to fragility that includes a distinct health dimension in addition to political, security, economic, social, environmental domains. Rather than proposing a way to score or measure fragility, the authors argue in favour of a nuanced and dynamic understanding of fragility based on the interactions between the different dimensions of fragility, emphasising the impact on/interactions with health.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.3871

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:ijhplm:v:40:y:2025:i:2:p:322-334

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0749-6753

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Health Planning and Management is currently edited by Calum Paton

More articles in International Journal of Health Planning and Management from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().