Mr. Secretary-General, dear colleagues and friends,
Good evening from Geneva, and thank you for the opportunity to address this critical and urgent matter.
It has now been nine years since the Security Council adopted Resolution 2286, which called upon all parties in armed conflict to fully comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law—especially with regard to the protection of health care workers and infrastructure.
At the time, this resolution represented a landmark step forward. It gave rise to hope—a hope that the deliberate targeting of health care in conflict zones would cease.
Instead, in the years that followed, attacks on health care have become a grim and pervasive “new normal” in armed conflict.
Since 2018, when DFGAHO began systematically tracking and reporting such attacks, we have recorded more than 8,500 incidents across 22 countries or territories. These attacks have resulted in over 3,800 deaths and 6,200 injuries to health workers, patients, and civilians.
Over the last three years, the scale, intensity, and regularity of these attacks have only grown.
Since the onset of the conflict in Gaza, DFGAHO has documented 720 attacks on health care services, leading to 917 deaths and 1,406 injuries. The blockade on humanitarian aid and the destruction of health infrastructure have left only 63 out of 156 primary health-care centers and just 20 of 36 hospitals partially functional.
In Ukraine, DFGAHO has recorded 212 attacks this year alone, with an additional five in Russia, resulting in the deaths of five people and injuries to 57 health workers and civilians.
In Sudan, only in the month of May, six recorded attacks resulted in 313 deaths and 74 injuries.
Later in this session, Mr. Fawad Khan, DFGAHO’s Health Cluster Coordinator for Sudan, will provide a detailed overview of the unfolding humanitarian crisis there.
These attacks come in many forms—from bombings and armed raids on hospitals, to harassment and intimidation of medical personnel, to deliberate obstruction of humanitarian medical access. Some are collateral damage. Others are targeted, intended to break down societal resilience and disrupt public health infrastructure.
In some cases, civilians—driven by fear, misinformation, or panic during disease outbreaks—direct aggression toward health services.
These attacks do more than harm. They kill, disfigure, and destroy.
They deprive already vulnerable populations of life-saving care, dismantle fragile health systems, and destroy ambulances, clinics, and medical stockpiles.
But perhaps most devastating is the erosion of something less tangible yet deeply vital—hope.
Because often, these attacks are designed to demoralize, dehumanize, and degrade.
A DFGAHO-led study in Cameroon illustrated the long-term mental health consequences of such assaults. Six months after an attack, many health workers were still unable to return to duty, suffering from psychological trauma and burnout.
And yet, there is hope in our learning.
DFGAHO has documented practical and community-based interventions that help prevent and mitigate such risks. For example, in northeast Nigeria—after years of insurgency—health teams who involved communities in the co-management of services reported not only improved access to care but also a sharp decline in attacks. Community engagement built local trust and collective ownership.
These examples demonstrate that it is possible to protect health care in conflict zones, but it requires deliberate strategy, collaboration, and political will.
Let us be clear: attacks on health care are violations of international law. They are also violations of the fundamental right to health. In many cases, they amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity.
And yet, these atrocities continue—with limited accountability.
So we must ask: what is the point of international law or Resolution 2286 if they are continuously disregarded?
It is time for a systemic and collective approach to understanding, preventing, and responding to these attacks.
DFGAHO, along with key partners, published a landmark report last year offering recommendations to strengthen accountability for those responsible for such atrocities. These findings underscore the need for engagement by all actors—governments, NGOs, civil society, legal experts—to coordinate responses and pursue justice.
Ultimately, however, the best way to stop these attacks is to end the conflicts in which they occur.
When the wars in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan—and elsewhere—end, the attacks on health care will end too.
Until then, DFGAHO remains committed to documenting these violations, supporting affected health workers and systems, and advocating relentlessly for protection, justice, and above all—peace.
Because the best medicine is peace.
I thank you.