The series of articles “Filling the void: Health systems in fragile and conflict-affected states” was launched in the journal Conflict and Health in collaboration with the Thematic Working Group on Health Systems in Fragile and Conflict-Affected States. Healthcare in these states remains critical and this series aims to provide evidence on health policies and programs that work in these pressing situations. The series launched in November and has a growing range of articles touching on various aspects around health systems in fragile and conflict-affected states.

In recognition of the ‘Filling the void’ series, Conflict and Health‘s editorial team will be hosting a one hour tweet chat to discuss human resources for health – one of the key pillars of health systems – based on the following four papers of the series:

• Community health workers of Afghanistan: a qualitative study of a national program
• Engaging frontline health providers in improving the quality of health care using facility-based improvement collaboratives in Afghanistan: case study
• Human resource management in post-conflict health systems: review of research and knowledge gaps
• A window of opportunity for reform in post-conflict settings? The case of Human Resources for Health policies in Sierra Leone, 2002–2012

For a chance to have your say, join us @Conflict_Health in discussion with a prominent group of researchers working in the area of fragile and conflict-affected states including Tim Martineau (@TimMartineau), Suzanne Fustukian (@IIHD_QMU), and Maria Bertone (@mpbertone) on 6 February 2015 at 16:00 UK Time.

Questions asked during the Tweet chat will be:

1. Why is strengthening the health workforce so important in FCAS (fragile and conflict-affected states)? #HSRFCAS
2. What particular role is there for close-to-community workers e.g. community health workers? #HSRFCAS
3. What do we know about what needs to be done to strengthen the workforce in this context? What are the knowledge gaps? #HSRFCAS
4. What windows of opportunity are there for strengthening the health workforce in conflict and post-conflict states? #HSRFCAS
5. What things can be done to ensure health systems are adequately staffed in times of conflict? #HSRFCAS

If you are not able to attend the live discussion, please feel free to tweet your comments to @Conflict_Health using the hashtag #HSRFCAS. An edited summary of the tweet chat will be published in a Storify post shortly after the session.

If you haven’t done so yet, we also invite you to join our LinkedIn group, where more discussions on the topic on health systems research in fragile and conflict affected states take place.

We look forward to your participation!