Advances in medical sciences, technology, and society at large, have considerably improved life expectancy and health of populations across the globe in recent decades. These advancements have in turn brought about demands and aims which pose new challenges to societies. In high income countries, the affordability of health service systems is under pressure. At the same time, low and middle income countries seek to build up their health service systems with limited resources – sometimes hindered by humanitarian crises.

While there are differences between continents, countries, and even within countries, many of the present challenges result from global developments and are shared. There is much to be gained for the global population from sharing solutions and joining scientific forces to improve health services. In all the dynamics and complexity of the global developments, and the abundance of data available, operations researchers have a key role to play in these improvement efforts. A key role in finding affordable and sustainable solutions for the challenging problems faced by todays health service systems. Optimizing health service operations, and outcomes.