Where We Stand
Section: Workforce Issues
Policy: Protection of Healthcare and Humanitarian Aid Personnel in Conflict Zones
Appendix AE
Protection of Healthcare and Humanitarian Aid Personnel in Conflict Zones
COMMENTS:
In recent years, there has been a dramatic escalation of violence against healthcare personnel and humanitarian aid workers around the world. According to UN and NGO reports, 2024 was the deadliest year on record, with 383 humanitarian workers killed, nearly half in Gaza alone. Similar attacks have been documented in Sudan, Myanmar, Ukraine, and Syria, where hospitals and clinics have been bombed, medical convoys obstructed, and health care providers detained or executed. (UN News, 2025; PBS, 2024).
The deliberate targeting and obstruction of medical care—is referred to by some ethicists and human rights observers as “medicide.” Attacks on hospitals, forced displacement of populations, and the deliberate prevention of medical supply delivery have become systematic tactics in modern conflicts, in direct violation of International Humanitarian Law (BMJ, 2023; PHR, 2024; HRW, 2025). These actions have resulted in catastrophic health outcomes for civilian populations and have undermined the safety and neutrality of medical and humanitarian missions globally.
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