News

Today, the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition released its eighth annual report, documenting the global incidence of attacks and threats against health workers, facilities, and transport around the world. The report cites 806 incidents of violence against or obstruction of health care in 43 countries and territories in ongoing wars and violent conflicts in 2020, ranging from the bombing of hospitals in Yemen to the abduction of doctors in Nigeria. Attacks – including killings, kidnappings, and sexual assaults, as well as destruction and damage of health facilities and transports – compounded the threats to health in every country as health systems struggled to prepare for and respond to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Five years after the United Nations (UN) Security Council passed a landmark resolution committing countries to prevent attacks on health care and hold perpetrators accountable, violence against health workers and facilities rages on unabated

Insecurity Insight published their Monthly News Brief on Attacks on Health Care.

Insecurity Insight published a new analysis document on health worker safety in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This edition examines the difference in the reported conflict- and COVID-related violence against health care personnel, services, infrastructure and equipment by looking at who commits such violence, what weapons are used and what this can tell us about the perpetrators’ underlying motives.

This new analysis by SHCC coalition member Insecurity Insight, highlights key trends in aid worker and health worker security over the first six months of 2020.