Attacks

Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition welcomes a new resolution by the UN Security Council condemning attacks on health workers and facilities. The value of the resolution will be determined by whether states adhere to international norms, develop strategies to prevent attacks, and bring perpetrators of attacks to justice.

A new report presents a documented analysis of the medical and humanitarian consequences of the intensification of the military campaign in 2015, based on medical reports and data from 70 clinics and hospitals in Syria supported by Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

The Syrian government has been attacking hospitals across the war-torn country with alarming regularity. Although such attacks are banned under the Geneva Convention, Fadel Abdul Ghani of the Syrian Network for Human Rights said the attacks on hospitals are a “systematic and widespread strategy” employed by the government.

The conflicts and political crises in the Middle East have brought anguish, suffering, and severe declines in health to people throughout the region. The most catastrophic case by far is Syria, where more than a million people have experienced traumatic injuries, once-rare infectious diseases have returned, chronic disease goes untreated, and the health system has collapsed.

New report highlights devastating impact of attacks on hospitals and medics during the 2014 military offensive on Gaza. Seventeen hospitals, 56 primary healthcare facilities and 45 ambulances were damaged or destroyed.