There were almost 600 reported attacks on healthcare facilities and workers in 19 countries in just two years, the World Health Organisation has reported.
And trying to meet the needs of people in emergency situations is not only “increasingly challenging”, the needs are “unprecedented”, the organisation warns.
In its first report on attacks on health care in emergencies, WHO says that in 2015, an estimated 125 million people affected by emergencies needed assistance – the biggest number on record.
Between January 2014 and December 2015, there were 594 reported attacks on health care that resulted in 959 deaths and 1,561 injuries in 19 countries where they were operating in emergency situations.
More than half of the attacks were against healthcare facilities, while one quarter was against healthcare workers. Sixty-two per cent of the attacks were reported to have intentionally targeted health care.
The report says limitations of the available information highlighted the importance for more and better data collection. The report’s authors also called for standard definitions and classifications to be introduced that will enable comparisons to be made of information from multiple sources.
Health care is consistently identified by emergency-affected populations as among their top priorities for humanitarian assistance and addressing health needs during emergencies not only saves lives, it can improve longer-term health outcomes and strengthen global health security, says the report.
But it is complex, the report says.
“In addition to delivering ongoing health programmes, healthcare workers must also address additional needs that can include conflict-related injuries, increases in infectious diseases and outbreaks, malnutrition, mental health problems and gender-based violence,” continues the report.
"The health emergency workforce face huge challenges, including overwhelming demands, insufficient resources, ongoing insecurity, lack of training, supplies and medicines, heightened anxiety and fear on the part of patients and families, limited access, bureaucratic hurdles, stress and exhaustion.
“The most disturbing challenge for health care providers during emergencies is when they themselves are the victims of attacks – real or threatened, targeted or indiscriminate,” the report says.
“Yet we witness with alarming frequency a lack of respect for the sanctity of health care, for the right to health care, and for international humanitarian law: patients are shot in their hospital beds, medical personnel are threatened, intimidated or attacked, hospitals are bombed.”
For the report, WHO analysed available secondary data from open sources on individual attacks on health care in emergencies. Attacks are defined as any act of verbal or physical violence or obstruction or threat of violence that interferes with the availability, access and delivery of curative and/or preventive health services during emergencies.
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