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Attacks on healthcare

Edited by:
Karl Blanchet, Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Richard Sullivan, Centre for Conflict & Health Research, King’s College London, United Kingdom

Submission Status: Open   |   Submission Deadline: 30 June 2024


Conflict and Health is calling for submissions to our Collection on Attacks on healthcare. Attacks against healthcare in armed conflict, including violence, access constraints, and insecurity, represent a major threat to health. Gathering evidence about the attacks themselves has and continues to be crucial in raising awareness of this issue. This article collection will bring together research articles, reviews, short reports and case studies, that provide insight into the impact of attacks on healthcare.


Image credit: Karl Blanchet

Meet the Guest Editors

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Karl Blanchet: Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies, University of Geneva, Switzerland

Professor Karl Blanchet is the Director of the Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies, and a Professor in Humanitarian Public Health at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva. His research focuses on health system resilience and health systems issues in global health, specifically in post-conflict and conflict-affected countries, leading to the development in 2022 of a MOOC on Operational Research for Humanitarians. Karl has developed a priority package of essential health services for countries such as Afghanistan and more generally for humanitarian crises. Karl has been a member of the Researching the Impact of Attacks on Healthcare (RIAH) project and was one of the coPI of the Lancet Series on Women’s and Children’s Health in Conflict Settings. He is also the Academic Director of InZone, a University of Geneva academic project offering university courses for refugee populations.

Richard Sullivan: Centre for Conflict & Health Research, King’s College London, UK.

Professor Richard Sullivan's research group studies health systems, particular NCD policy and the impact of conflict on health. He is Professor of Cancer and Global Health at King’s College London, and Director of the Institute of Cancer Policy (ICP) and co-Director of the Conflict and Health Research Group.  As well as holding a number of Visiting Chairs, Richard is an NCD advisor to the WHO, civil-military advisor to Save the Children, and a member of the National Cancer Grid of India His research focuses on global cancer policy and planning, and health systems strengthening, particularly conflict ecosystems. He is principle investigator on research programs ranging from automated radiotherapy planning for low resource settings to use of augmented/virtual reality for cancer surgery, through to political economy to build affordable, equitable cancer control plans. Richard has led five Lancet Oncology Commissions and worked on four others. He is currently co-leading Lancet Oncology commissions on the Future of Cancer Research in Europe and Cancer Care in Conflict. In conflict systems, his research teams have major programs in capacity building in conflict medicine across the Middle East and North Africa (r4hc-mena.org), as well as studies of the basic package of health services in Afghanistan, civil-military co-operation in health security, polio eradication and insecurity in Pakistan, and use of intelligence in high security disease outbreaks.  Professor Sullivan qualified in medicine and trained in surgery (urology), gaining his PhD from University College London. He was also clinical director of Cancer Research UK between 1999 and 2008. Following a period at the London School of Economics working on complex healthcare systems he moved to King’s College London in 2011.

About the collection

Conflict and Health invites you to submit to our new collection on attacks on healthcare.

Attacks against healthcare in armed conflict, including violence, access constraints, and insecurity, represent a major threat to health. In May 2016, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2286 demanding an end to impunity for those responsible for attacks on healthcare and calling for respect for international law on the part of all warring parties. Gathering evidence about the attacks themselves has and continues to be crucial in raising awareness of this issue. The impact of attacks against healthcare in armed conflict is an intractable and priority knowledge gap despite multiple initiatives that have improved data collection about these attacks. Better understanding could help promote the resilience of health programs, enable more effective mitigation measures, inform accountability mechanisms, and advance advocacy efforts.

This article collection will bring together research articles, reviews, short reports and case studies, that provide insight into the impact of attacks on healthcare.

It is hoped that having a series in Conflict and Health will allow for a more in-depth understanding of the impact of attacks on healthcare, a more nuanced analysis of the impact by context and type of incident and generate discussion globally and in various countries on the need for useful evidence on the issue for better programming and mitigation measures.

  1. Attacks on healthcare have further weakened the already fragile health system in the Central African Republic. We investigated attacks on healthcare in three conflict-affected prefectures—Ouaka, Haute-Kotto, a...

    Authors: Natalya Kostandova, Jennifer OKeeffe, Blaise Bienvenu Ali, Pierre Somsé, Audrey Mahieu, Odilon Guesset Bingou IV, Sebastien Dackpa, Gerard Mbonimpa and Leonard Rubenstein
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2024 18:54
    Content type: Research Published on:

  2. In addition to having some of the worst health outcomes in the region, Haiti faces a political and economic crisis. The most recent humanitarian crisis includes an increase in homicides and kidnappings in the ...

    Authors: Rachel Victoria Belt, Nadege Jacques, Larry Pierre, Elizabeth Greig and Kazem Rahimi
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2024 18:53
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. In Myanmar, ongoing conflict since the 2021 military coup d’etat has been characterized by targeted violence against health workers (HWs), particularly those participating in the pro-democracy movement. Existi...

    Authors: Rohini J. Haar, Katerina Crawford, Larissa Fast, Than Htut Win, Leonard Rubenstein, Karl Blanchet, Louis Lillywhite, Nicholus Tint-Zaw and Myo-Myo Mon
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2024 18:52
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. In November 2023, a variety of disparate health organizations formed an international coalition to consolidate efforts and develop collaborative strategies in response to the increasing critical healthcare cha...

    Authors: Karl Blanchet, Martine Najem, Lina Shadid, Rouba Ali Fehmi, Fawzi Al Hammouri, Ghassan Saed, Khaled J. Saleh, Mosab Nasser, Nidal Moukaddam, Jonathan Polonsky and Omar Lattouf
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2024 18:42
    Content type: Comment Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in Conflict and Health 2024 18:44

  5. This study explores the impacts of attacks perpetrated in the context of armed conflict, to female health workers in three Colombian territories.

    Authors: María Esperanza Echeverry-López, Alejandra Marín-Uribe, Isabel C. Garcés-Palacio, Yadira Borrero-Ramírez, Dora María Hernández-Holguin, Carlos Iván Pacheco-Sánchez and Rohini J. Haar
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2024 18:25
    Content type: Research Published on:

  6. War results in widespread destruction of a country’s infrastructure, healthcare facilities, and educational institutions. This study aims to assess the attacks on medical schools amidst the ongoing conflict in...

    Authors: Esra Abdallah Abdalwahed Mahgoub, Amna Khairy, Samar Osman, Musab Babiker Haga, Sarah Hashim Mohammed Osman, Abubker Mohammed Abbu Hassan, Hala Kamal and Ayia Babiker
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2024 18:23
    Content type: Research Published on:

  9. Although the Geneva Conventions and Rome Statute demand protections for healthcare facilities during war, breaches of these protections are frequently reported. The ongoing war in Ukraine is no exception, with se...

    Authors: Dennis G. Barten, Derrick Tin, Fredrik Granholm, Diana Rusnak, Frits van Osch and Gregory Ciottone
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2023 17:57
    Content type: Research Published on:

  10. The scale of attacks on healthcare has become more visible and its impact greater in recent armed conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan and Myanmar. In these conflicts, combatants systematically target health facilities...

    Authors: Karl Blanchet, Leonard Rubenstein, Bertrand Taithe and Larissa Fast
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2023 17:56
    Content type: Comment Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in Conflict and Health 2024 18:11

  11. Colombia has experienced decades of conflict between the government and non-state actors. Attacks on healthcare have been a grave but regular facet of that violence. In response, the Misión Médica (MM) program...

    Authors: Katerina Crawford☥, Tatiana Florez☥, Mario Rodriguez, Lendy Cirado, Róisín Read and Rohini Haar
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2023 17:51
    Content type: Research Published on:

  12. Attacks on healthcare in armed conflict have far-reaching impacts on the personal and professional lives of health workers, as well as the communities they serve. Despite this, even in protracted conflicts suc...

    Authors: Aula Abbara, Diana Rayes, Hannah Tappis, Mohamed Hamze, Reham Wais, Hesham Alahmad, Naser Almhawish, Leonard Rubenstein and Rohini Haar
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2023 17:48
    Content type: Research Published on:

  13. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to healthcare workers (HCWs) around the world. The healthcare system in Lebanon was already under pressure due to economic instability and political u...

    Authors: Linda Abou-Abbas, Rana Nasrallah, Sally Yaacoub, Jessica Yohana Ramirez Mendoza and Mahmoud Al Wais
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2023 17:45
    Content type: Research Published on:

  14. Health Care Workers (HCWs) in conflict zones face high levels of violence while also playing a crucial role in assisting the population in distress. For more than two decades, the eastern provinces of the Demo...

    Authors: Samuel Lwamushi Makali, Jean Corneille Lembebu, Raïssa Boroto, Christian Chiribagula Zalinga, Daniella Bugugu, Emmanuel Lurhangire, Bigirinama Rosine, Christine Chimanuka, Pacifique Mwene-Batu, Christian Molima, Jessica Ramirez Mendoza, Giovanfrancesco Ferrari, Sonja Merten and Ghislain Bisimwa
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2023 17:44
    Content type: Research Published on:

  15. The ongoing armed conflict in Sudan has resulted in a deepening humanitarian crisis with significant implications for the country's health system, threatening its collapse. This article examines the destructio...

    Authors: Alaa Dafallah, Osman K. O. Elmahi, Maisoon Elbukhari Ibrahim, Rania Elfatih Elsheikh and Karl Blanchet
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2023 17:43
    Content type: Comment Published on:

  16. The Taliban takeover in August 2021 brought global economic sanctions, economic collapse, and draconian restrictions on women’s freedom of movement, work, political participation, and education. This study exa...

    Authors: Nancy Glass, Rabia Jalalzai, Paul Spiegel and Leonard Rubenstein
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2023 17:28
    Content type: Research Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in Conflict and Health 2023 17:32

  17. The war in Tigray, North Ethiopia which started in November 2020, has destroyed decades of the region’s healthcare success. There is some emerging published evidence on attacks on health care in the region, an...

    Authors: Hailay Gesesew, Hafte Kebede, Kenfe Berhe, Nelsensius Fauk and Paul Ward
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2023 17:26
    Content type: Review Published on:

  18. Community Health Workers (CHWs) provide vital services during disease outbreaks. Appropriate burials of those who died from an infectious disease outbreak is a critical CHW function to prevent infection and di...

    Authors: Hana Zwick, Marc Salama Asobee, Isabeaux Kennedy Mitton, Jennifer Headley and David E. Eagle
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2023 17:25
    Content type: Research Published on:

  19. Attacks on health care represent an area of growing international concern. Publicly available data are important in documenting attacks, and are often the only easily accessible data source. Data collection pr...

    Authors: Vanessa Parada, Larissa Fast, Carolyn Briody, Christina Wille and Rudi Coninx
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2023 17:3
    Content type: Research Published on:

  20. Attacks on health care in armed conflict, including those on health workers, facilities, patients and transports, represent serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. Information ab...

    Authors: Rohini J. Haar, Róisín Read, Larissa Fast, Karl Blanchet, Stephanie Rinaldi, Bertrand Taithe, Christina Wille and Leonard S. Rubenstein
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2021 15:37
    Content type: Review Published on:

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of Research Articles. Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you have read our submission guidelines. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select Conflict and Health from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.