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This study aims to deepen the understanding of the challenges and implications entailed by deploying mobile clinics in conflict zones to reach populations affected by violence and cut off from health-care services.

This research combines an integrated literature review and an instrumental case study. The literature review comprises two targeted reviews to provide insights: one on conflict zones and one on mobile clinics. The case study describes the process and challenges faced throughout a mobile clinic deployment during and after the Iraq War. The data was gathered using mixed methods over a two-year period (2017–2018).

Armed conflicts directly impact the populations’ health and access to health care. Mobile clinic deployments are often used and recommended to provide health-care access to vulnerable populations cut off from health-care services. However, there is a dearth of peer-reviewed literature documenting decision support tools for mobile clinic deployments.

This study highlights the gaps in the literature and provides direction for future research to support the development of valuable insights and decision support tools for practitioners.

The devastating impact of catastrophic disasters on terrestrial infrastructure requires the adoption of alternative technology solutions among humanitarian organizations. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of the most commonly used satellite technologies in relief logistics: imagery and mapping, portable global positioning system (GPS) positioning devices, telecommunications, and GPS vehicle tracking.

The paper examines both the benefits and limitations of satellite technologies in light of the existing literature and through a complementary questionnaire survey with field workers involved in humanitarian operations in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

The results show that the use of satellite technologies can facilitate most of the key logistics challenges encountered by relief actors. However, they also highlight important barriers within humanitarian organizations such as the lack of skilled workers and high costs, underlining the need for long-term training, resource investments, and cooperation between users and technology providers.

The research findings remain valid only in the context of catastrophic disaster responses, which lead to similar destructions, logistical problems, and needs for satellite technologies.

This paper shows how satellite technologies can support humanitarian professionals in the field. It also provides policy recommendations that can facilitate the use of these technologies.

The applications of satellite technologies within humanitarian supply chains are not well-defined in the literature. This paper is the first to be dedicated to analyze the role of the main satellite technologies used in a relief logistics setting.