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A high-level panel during the United Nations General Assembly concluded States must take concrete action to ensure the protection of health care—particularly in situations of armed conflict and emergencies—and garnered support for an eventual UN resolution on the topic. Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, co-chaired the event with Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization.

Armed attacks on hospitals are occurring more often around the world, resulting in death, injury and destroyed facilities. What can be done to stop this disturbing trend? In human tradition, three types of institutions have been considered safe in times of violence and civil strife; that is, it is expected that they will be exempt from armed attack. These institutions are places of worship, schools and hospitals.

Recruiting health workers with high levels of internal motivation is critical for work in difficult conditions, where their personal security and health might be compromised, according to new research published today in Health Policy and Planning. Health workers often witness the deaths of friends and colleagues during conflict situations and also face abduction, injury and death, themselves. Life history interviews with 26 health workers who lived through conflict in Northern Uganda reveal their resilience and how they coped by building trusting relationships with the community, seeking support from managers and elders, and finding strength from their faith and commitment to serve their community.

Kurds wounded in the fighting were brought to a makeshift clinic in the town of Salhiyah, where dusty and exhausted, they described savage battles, with militants sniping at them from inside homes and from the windows of a hospital in Rabia.

Violence against health-care workers and facilities, medical vehicles and patients during armed conflict and other emergencies is one of the most serious challenges of humanitarian concern in the world today. Violent acts, which limit access to health-care services for those most in need and disrupt health-care systems, have severe immediate and long-term consequences. Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), has highlighted the alarming scale of the problem.